Missouri Medical Cannabis Patients Could Lose Welfare Benefits
[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]M[/dropcap]issouri citizens approved Amendment 2 on Nov. 6, but a law that was enacted seven years ago may prevent registered medical cannabis patients from receiving welfare benefits.
The state’s Department of Social Services oversees the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. Low-income families can qualify for cash assistance or other benefits. Under a 2011 law signed by former Gov. Jay Nixon, welfare recipients in Missouri must answer questions about drug use and sometimes undergo a drug screen to qualify for assistance from the state’s TANF program. Once a welfare recipient in Missouri has tested positive for any illegal substances, or if they simply miss a drug screen, they are barred from the welfare program—for three years.
The department indicated that no formal decision on the matter has been made. “The Department of Social Services is currently studying the issue and will make a decision on how to proceed at the appropriate time,” spokeswoman Rebecca Woelfel told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Employers, in almost all cases, have the say-so of whether or not employees who are caught consuming cannabis will be terminated from their positions. Currently, the same logic applies for the welfare program in Missouri.
The trend of drug testing welfare recipients has spread to the following 15 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin. But experts have questioned whether or not drug testing programs work. In 2016, for instance, states spent $1.3 million on drug testing welfare recipients, but only caught 363 people in 13 states.
Many people in the cannabis industry obviously don’t believe that we, as Americans, should classify cannabis consumers as illicit drug users—especially with the number of states that have now legalized medical or recreational cannabis.
