Note also that the relative rate of drug use and abuse in the welfare population is likely to be cyclical. Measured rates of drug dependence among welfare clients may decline, relative to the non-welfare population. Thus the ratio may be highest when enrollment is lowest. We know of no study that has attempted to adjust for this. Finally, there is the question of what one should employ as a measure of drug use and, more importantly, drug abuse or dependence.
Some analysts rely on the frequency of drug use to define dependence or abuse.
Other surveys have imbedded in their questionnaire a version of a clinical definition of abuse or dependence. Estimates The most widely cited estimates of the prevalence of drug use among welfare mothers come from two national household surveys. They appear to show large differences but these are principally artifacts of the definitions chosen by analysts. With fewer than 5 million adult welfare recipients, this is an alarming number. The principal explanation for these differences simply lie in the definitions of drug abuse.