Is Testing Welfare Recipients for Drug use a Good Thing?

Many states are now considering giving welfare recipients drug tests. There are many that say this is stereotyping those on welfare as as lazy, drug users. There are also those that believe this is a good thing. I believe drug testing welfare recipients is a good thing it can be found that a welfare recipient is using drugs they can be taken off and save the state money. It also makes sure that the money is going to the children if there are any.

The first real reason for having welfare recipients drug tested is to see if the money is really going to help them make ends meet or to their drug use. Now anti activists of this policy are saying that it is just stereotyping welfare recipients as lazy, drug abusers. This is untrue. Many don't see welfare users as this description. They are just people that are down on their luck. While many may not due drugs and as an article by Robin Marty says "the percentage of welfare recipients using drugs was actually lower than that of the regular population" (http://www.care2.com/causes/drug-testing-welfare-recipients-is-compassionate.html). This proves that this the amount of drug users n welfare is very low. Though it is still enough to require a drug test. After all is the money being given to these people is being spent on drugs instead of what they need then it is just a waste of tax payer money.   Just think if these drug abusers are parents how can they support their children will spending money on their addiction.

Now as previously stated not all welfare recipients use drugs but those that due need to be weeded out. After all what if they are parents. They cannot provide for their children. They would leave their children unfed just to get high. After all if you can't make ends meet in the first place while being drug users how can you do it while being a parent. In Florida if the parents are taken off welfare then the payments will still continue to the children though another family member (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/11/us/states-adding-drug-test-as-hurdle-for-welfare.html?pagewanted=2&_r=2&hp&adxnnlx=1318348709-n%20qDLowhd0sUnSL9VNLgHw). This is a good policy because the parents can't abuse the money their given and the children aren't left out in the cold with their parents. After all why condemn the child for the crimes of the parent. The children nee to be thought of and taken care off.

So while some people are going against this policy with vigor and hate, there are those like myself that find it a good plan. We need to make sure that the money we are giving these people is not being abused and used for the wrong things. We need to use this policy to help those that deserve this money are getting it and those that don't aren't. 

Offshore Drilling: Do the Benefits Outway the Costs?

There is a big debt right now over offshore drilling. Many environmentalists are very opposed to it, where as the oil companies and their supporters in Congress wish to support it. I think that we should learn form our mistakes and just let the oil in the ocean be left undisturbed. After all didn't we fill most of the Gulf of Mexico with five million barrels of oil, endanger hundreds of species of sea life, pollute our water and spend millions of dollars and months cleaning up the spill. This is the point that the environmentalists are arguing. They believe we should leave the oil to sit and use alternative fuel sources. I fully see their side of the story, they don't want another B.P. oil spill polluting our waters and killing hundreds of species of sea life. I also see the oil companies' side. They what to get more oil make profits, and give us a little more time to make our cars usable. I don't, however see the point in taking the chance of another oil spill. In a New York Times article stated that "Ken Salazar, the interior secretary, "acknowledged that "drilling 5,000 feet beneath the gulf or in the unforgiving conditions of the Arctic would never be free of risk."(http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/09/science/earth/us-to-open-new-areas-to-offshore-drilling.html?_r=1). This show that no one believes that nothing will happen, that there will always be a chance of having a catastrophic failure and that we will have another terrible oil spill. The oil companies may think that they have a noble endeavor, which in a way they do after all most of our methods of transportation run off oil and gasoline. This maybe true but destroying our earth even more than we have is only going to hurt us in the long run. In a 2008 USA Today article a Greenpeace activist named Melanie Duchin says "Oil smothers wildlife"( http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2008-07-13-offshore-drilling_N.htm). Truer words were never said. Offshore drilling upsets natural ecosystems and causes massive damage to the surrounding area. We cannot allow this to go on. The end does not justify the means.