Drug Testing Continued by Susan L.

  It was a very restless night for me. Nightmares of future possibilities haunted me through the wee hours of the morning. It was a grim future because I got wondering where the line would stop as far as drug testing welfare recipients would go. Will it end at illegal substances? What about testing for nicotine or alcohol? What about prescription drugs? They can be abused just as easily as street drugs. I know this is in the US but Canada is often quick to follow their lead.
  If the government is concerned where the welfare dollars are going, what about a person who is struggling with obesity? They aren't spending their welfare dollars the "right" way. Obesity can be a result of a food addiction. However, poverty and obesity go hand in hand. Just think about what is donated to the food banks. Pasta, baked beans, peanut butter, and tinned anything are the usual fare.
  I don't want to appear ungrateful, far from it. It provides a unfortunately much needed resource. It is just a comment on the reality of the situation. Here's some food for thought, Kraft Dinner is a slap in the face when you can't afford to buy the milk and margarine to make it with. So is peanut butter when you can't buy bread because your entire welfare cheque barely paid the rent and the hydro bill is looming on the horizon.
  I used to rant about people on welfare, judging them harshly as lazy, leeches, good-for-nothing. God has forgiven me for that because as I said yesterday, I became one of those people. Applying for welfare was one of the hardest things I have ever done. Swallowed pride tends to choke on the way down. That office was the last place I had ever imagined myself to be in.
   I understand that because of the state of the US economy, their unemployment rate is higher than ever. My heart goes out to the business executive who lost everything and has ended up going hat in hand to the government just to feed her children. The savings in the bank are gone. They simply ended up walking away from the dreams and hopes of youth. This is probably a scenario that is repeated time and again. She's someone just like you and I.
 Government dollars are stretched to their limit but I wonder at the expenses incurred by mandatory rehab because it doesn't work. Oh, maybe for a while but we humans tend to rebel when something is forced down our throats. Also, abstinence is easy while we are in a place where the needs to fulfill an addiction are nowhere near. Then there is the cost. I think the US figure was around $36,000 for one person's treatment. Welfare in Canada runs around $7200 per year for a single person. Doesn't make sense to me especially since according to Mississippi's testing, the number of people living with addictions on welfare is less than the general public. It is a rare case.
  True freedom from any addiction begins when someone wants to change their life.
  And I wonder too, wouldn't that money be better spent catching those who deal in illegal drugs, those who introduce our youth and yes, children, to the "pleasures" of intoxicating substances? If there is no source...but that's a pie in the sky dream.  
  My apologies to the police, they are doing the best they can with the inadequate resources they have to fight this war. Now here's the question, why are they so underfunded? Honestly, I believe the drug trade is a huge contributor to the global economy that no government can afford to stop completely. Just something to think about, that's all.
  Like I said, nightmares last night. And again, I am thankful because we live in a country with the social safety net we have. We are truly rich even without butter and milk.
  "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" Mk 8:35-36