Starting to understand why red states might be voting against Medicaid and SSI

[hollowdweller]

8. When Clinton and the GOP passed welfare reform

That meant that you had to work for welfare. You also had the 5 year lifetime benefit.

A single person might only qualify for food stamps.

But you could be found disabled and get a script for some benzos or oxy and sell them and make more than you ever made from welfare.

The opioid crisis was like the crack epidemic in the 80's. Both were reactions to rural and urban depression. One of the few ways people could make decent money.

I worked doing disability/ssi claims for 30 years and I'm now retired. The thing really started taking off when welfare reform passed.

The other aspect of it is recreation. I have always found the less there is to do somewhere and the poorer people are, the harder drugs they do.

I went to college in a very rural area, at that time a lot of people were doing PCP, Crank, acid and quaaludes. Most of my friends at home in a more urban area with more money had hobbies and mainly smoked pot and drunk beer.

30 years ago people in rural areas could get a job at a factory, or in the mines or work for the state and have a decent living. Now people work at Subway and Dollar General. No wonder people are doing feel good drugs.