ALCP have found a vote winner - they think.
Beneficiaries who risk losing their benefits due to drug testing are being encouraged to give their party vote to the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party in the upcoming election. Party Leader Michael Appleby said the only way for beneficiaries to contiunue using cannabis was to ensure the ALCP was elected on November 26 to fight for their rights.
Legal or illegal, the government can make non-use of drugs and/or alcohol a condition for receiving a benefit if they chose to. I wouldn't support such a move. It simply avoids the bigger issue of what people are doing on benefits when they should be self-supporting. Someone terminally ill reliant on an invalid's benefit shouldn't be barred from using whatever eases their end.
The Government's Welfare Working Group led by economist Paula Rebstock, aims to tackle drug addiction by introducing drug testing for those on the benefit. Social Development Minister Paula Bennett said she supported the move. "We expect it for people who are in work so why shouldn't we expect it for people who are looking for work? Frankly, I don't think that is too much to ask," she said.
But we don't expect it for all people in work. So why expect it for all beneficiaries?
Mr Appleby said the move could have disastrous consequences for medical users of cannabis. "We will fight for the right of all New Zealanders to grow and use cannabis for personal or medical use," he said. "It is important than beneficiaries give their party vote to ALCP otherwise they risk losing their benefits."
As I said decriminalising or legalising cannabis won't change the risk of losing their benefit if the government makes non-use a condition of eligibility. In the past people who caused their own incapacity through alcoholism weren't eligible for social security. But alcohol was legal.
If a doctor deems drug or alcohol abuse the primary cause of a person's incapacity I would support accepting mandatory treatment as a condition for continuance of a benefit. Drug testing might form part of such a regime. And it wouldn't surprise me if this isn't what the government is considering.
Most people aren't on a benefit because they smoke or drink. They are on one because they can be. That's the problem.
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5 comments:
"We expect it for people who are in work so why shouldn't we expect it for people who are looking for work?"
One is left to wonder when Bennett was last drug-tested. Or is she not "in work?"
"If you ain't got no job, and you not smoking weed, I don't know what the fuck you are doing with your life, I really don't." - Katt Williams
Most people aren't on a benefit because they smoke or drink. They are on one because they can be. That's the problem.
They are on them because the benefits are there
Stop the benefits - all of 'em - and you stop the rot.
Yep...easy access to other peoples money with no reciprocal responsibilities equals abuse and idleness.
Why was this policy not effected sometime during the previous 3 years, during which no obvious welfare reforms have been attempted?
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