Mandatory Welfare Drug Treatment in Australia

In 2017 and 2018 Australia almost implemented laws to require unemployed people to undertake mandatory drug testing and treatment. Debate about linking welfare with mandatory drug treatment suffers from the complexity and paucity of research specifically about the efficacy of mandatory welfare drug treatment. This allows the possibility for mandatory welfare drug treatment to remain on the political horizon. This article situates the Australian proposal to introduce mandatory drug treatment for the unemployed within the relevant research literature. It concludes that the literature shows there is little chance of efficacy if welfare is linked with mandatory drug treatment. Instead, cost ineffectiveness and perverse outcomes are more probable than treatment efficacy.