--- title: Indiana Proposes Drug Testing Requirements for Welfare Recipients description: A similar measure failed to gain legislative approval last year canonical: https://time.com/3822450/indiana-house-welfare-drugs/ author: Naina Bajekal article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-15T11:56:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T06:24:31.567Z article:section: Politics og:title: Indiana Politicians Want to Drug Test People on Welfare og:description: People who fail the test would risk losing their benefits og:url: https://time.com/3822450/indiana-house-welfare-drugs/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Indiana Politicians Want to Drug Test People on Welfare twitter:description: People who fail the test would risk losing their benefits twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Indiana Politicians Want to Drug Test People on Welfare  by [Naina Bajekal](https://time.com/author/naina-bajekal/)  ## Naina Bajekal Bajekal was executive editor and international editor at TIME. Apr 15, 2015 11:56 AM UTC  by [Naina Bajekal](https://time.com/author/naina-bajekal/)  ## Naina Bajekal Bajekal was executive editor and international editor at TIME. Apr 15, 2015 11:56 AM UTC Lawmakers in Indiana are weighing a measure that would require some welfare recipients to undergo drug testing and risk losing their benefits if they failed. Democratic State Rep. Terry Goodin proposed the drug testing requirement as an amendment to a bill currently before Indiana’s House, based on his concerns over intravenous drug use causing a spike in HIV cases. The Republican-majority House voted 79-15 on Tuesday to approve Goodin’s amendment to the bill, which will be considered in a final vote Wednesday. The proposed change would require welfare recipients considered high-risk for drug abuse to be tested, as well as those who had previously been charged with a drug-related crime. If recipients failed a drug test, they’d receive counseling that they would have to pay for themselves. If they repeatedly failed the tests, they’d be taken off welfare for at least three months. They would also be responsible for the cost of any positive drug tests. Republicans pushed a similar proposal in 2014 but it failed to pass in the Senate. Civil liberties organizations have criticized measures like this in the past. \[[_The Indianapolis Star_](http://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2015/04/14/dem-proposes-drug-testing-indiana-welfare-recipients/25763253/)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3822450/indiana-house-welfare-drugs/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3822450/indiana-house-welfare-drugs/"},"headline":"Indiana Politicians Want to Drug Test People on Welfare","datePublished":"2015-04-15T11:56:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T06:24:31.567Z","description":"A similar measure failed to gain legislative approval last year","url":"https://time.com/3822450/indiana-house-welfare-drugs/","keywords":["States"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Naina Bajekal","jobTitle":"Bajekal was executive editor and international editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/naina-bajekal/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/states/","name":"States"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3822450/indiana-house-welfare-drugs/","name":"Indiana Politicians Want to Drug Test People on Welfare"}}]}] ```