Assessing the Effects of Substance Abuse Among Applicants for TANF Benefits: The Outcome of a Demonstration Project in Florida

This paper examines an attempt by the State of Florida to devise a mechanism for determining the level of drug use among TANF recipients and to determine the extent to which such use affects employment, earnings and use of government services by TANF beneficiaries. Data from tests administered by substance abuse testing providers were combined with information from Medicaid, Food Stamp, cash assistance and Unemployment Insurance files to examine differences between the two groups. The findings suggest that the procedures employed by the State of Florida did not produce reliable estimates of the level of drug use among TANF beneficiaries. The data did show very small differences in employment, earnings, and use of government services between individuals who tested positively and those who tested negatively for substance abuse. In addition, evidence is presented that suggests that there is very little difference in employment, earnings and use of government services between users of different kinds of drugs.