A REAL WELFARE FRAUD

California is enduring a self-defeating welfare rule: After jail, drug
users are denied food stamps for life. It's a federal proviso that
undercuts recovery and pushes addicts and users back into their self-
destructive world.

Assembly Bill 1796, written by San Francisco Democrat Mark Leno,
allows California to waive the onerous rule as 17 other states already
have. It's not hard to see why.

In 1996, the lifetime ban on food benefits was tacked on to a federal
welfare overhaul to thwart black -market dealing of food stamps for
drugs. Since then, the program was switched to the debit-card format
that thwarts such abuse. Now it is time to junk the self-defeating and
contradictory rule.

Killers, rapists or violent thugs aren't barred from food stamps --
only those caught with drugs, who are often the small fry of the crime
world. Dealers and drugmakers won't be exempted under the proposed law.

It may feel right to deny food stamps to drug-using lawbreakers. But
consider the results: As these druggies leave jail, they won't have a
modest benefit in getting their life rolling. They stay at the margins
of society, not on the road to recovery.

The Assembly is due to vote Thursday on AB1796. Legislators should
vote to drop the federal ban, clearing the way for the state Senate to
follow suit and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to sign the bill.