Wisconsin governor Scott Walker recently announced that he would continue pushing for rules that would require individuals to complete a drug test when applying for food stamps. Instead of free groceries, able-bodied adults with no children who test positive for drugs would be pointed toward rehab, generously paid for by the state if they cannot pay themselves. “What a reasonable idea,” you might be saying to yourself. After all, if you’ve got the money for opioids, you’ve got the money for SpaghettiOs.
Walker’s proposal is indeed sensible, and not even hard-hearted: “This rule change means people battling substance use disorders will be able to get the help they need to get healthy, and get back into the workforce,” read a statement from the governor.
But as the Associated Press was eager to point out in its coverage, the effort faces legal headwinds. There are Obama-era federal regulations restricting any requirements for food stamps imposed by the states. A federal lawsuit filed by Walker in 2015 aimed at gaining approval for his rule got hung up in legal technicalities. Walker has asked the Trump administration to jettison the Obama administration’s ban on food-stamp restrictions, but at least for now Team Trump has more pressing things on its plate. It might pique its interest, however, if it takes note that other states would like to pass similar requirements. As the AP reports, 11 governors asked the federal government to approve similar measures in 2016.
Even if Walker’s drug-test plan gets a federal assist, count on plenty of litigation to block his effort. And even if the bureaucratic stars aligned and there was an immediate go-ahead, testing wouldn’t begin for a year. In the meantime that’s a whole lot of smack-consumption, much of it lethal. The Scrapbook hopes that one day we’ll feel morally squeamish enough about subsidizing heroin addiction to do something about it.
