For almost two decades, Alabama residents convicted of a drug-related felony were barred for life from receiving food stamps or welfare payments. Starting this month, the ban will officially be lifted.
Alabama is not the only state that is backing away from the ban, which was established in 1996 under President Bill Clinton’s welfare reform law and blocks only drug offenders from receiving assistance, not any other felons.
Eighteen states have completely abandoned the federal prohibition on drug offenders receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, or food stamps. Twenty-six other states have partly eased those restrictions, often by providing the benefits only if the recipient complies with parole, does not commit a second offense, enrolls in treatment, etc. At least three more states — Georgia, Nebraska, and Indiana — are now considering similar reforms.
[For more of this story, written by Eli Hager, go to https://www.themarshallproject...od-stamps#.u664dBPX9]
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