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marmar

(77,081 posts) Tue Oct 8, 2013, 06:43 PM Oct 2013

Let's Stop Starving Drug Offenders Back to Prison

Let's Stop Starving Drug Offenders Back to Prison

Tuesday, 08 October 2013 09:54
By Maya Schenwar, Truthout | Op-Ed

With another cruel cutback in food stamps approaching November 1, we're reminded that many states ban stamps for ex-prisoners, who face a 50 percent unemployment rate, making prison the only sure place they won't starve.

As the debate rages over whether poor people deserve to eat, it's an apt time to acknowledge that in some states, the right to food stamps has long been denied to a large group of poor people: those with felony drug convictions.

The current national conversation around food rights is an exercise in heartlessness. Regardless of congressional action, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits - otherwise known as food stamps - will decrease sharply for all recipients on November 1, when a temporary boost expires. At that point, the SNAP allowance for a family of three will wither to about $1.40 per person, per meal. House Republicans recently pushed through an additional cut, which likely won't pass the Senate, but still reflects a sense of ingrained, oppressive disregard for the 47 million people on food stamps.

However, the drug felony ban, which renders untold numbers of Americans ineligible for SNAP, is no sneaky Republican plot. It came to us courtesy of President Clinton, who, true to his "wars" on both drugs and crime, signed off on the ban as part of his 1996 welfare "reform" law.

"Today," Clinton said upon signing, "we have a historic opportunity to make welfare what it was made to be: a second chance, not a way of life." .....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/19268-lets-stop-starving-drug-offenders-back-to-prison