13 States Can Drug Test Welfare Recipients
North Carolina began drug testing welfare recipients, a controversial practice that privacy advocates believe is a slippery slope. In fact the North Carolina legislation was vetoed by its governor, Pat McCrory, in 2013. McCrory vetoed the bill because he believed it unfairly targeted welfare recipients and because implementing the testing would be prohibitively expensive. The North Carolina legislature overrode McCrory’s veto.
North Carolina is just one of 13 states with similar laws on the books. In each of the 13 states below, some public assistance recipients may be subjected to drug testing as a qualification to receive the funds. In most cases testing is triggered by suspicion of drug use, but in others a random selection of recipients can be called out for testing. The state’s rights to impose these restrictions on a federal program (SNAP) is being legally contested.
- Alabama
- Arkansas
- Arizona
- Florida
- Georgia
- Kansas
- Michigan
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- North Carolina
- Oklahoma
- Tennessee
- Utah
