FOOD STAMP REFORM

Authorities Hope Cards Will Curb Drug Trades

TAZEWELL, Va. - The illegal act of trading food stamps for drugs could be
halted thanks to the new debit card type food stamp program being
implemented in Virginia, a Tazewell County official said. Friday, Tazewell
County Common-wealth Attorney Dennis Lee said new Elec-tronic Ben-efits
Tran-sfer cards, which will replace Tazewell County's paper food stamp
coupons sometime in the summer of 2002, will help with the growing problem
of food stamp fraud in the county. Food stamps are currently used by some
2,342 Tazewell County food stamp customers according to Tazewell County
Director of Social Services Rex Tester.

"We have prosecuted a number of welfare fraud cases which involved drug
dealers in possession of a large number of food coupons illegally," Lee said.

"A couple of years ago, we prosecuted Hurley Webb who was a major cocaine
dealer. He had in his possession hundreds and hundreds of dollars worth of
food stamps and he was not a recipient of food stamps."

Lee said another more recent case involved a Tazewell County man who was
arrested on charges of selling cocaine and marijuana. Lee said the suspect,
who died before he was prosecuted, had "thousands of dollars worth of food
stamps illegally in his possession when he was arrested."

Earlier this week, Tazewell County Food Stamp Supervisor Veda Counts said,
"There is a lot of abuse and fraud with food stamps. This will help to curb
these abuses."

Lee said drug dealers trade drugs for food stamps and in turn trade the
food stamps for food or barter for other goods or services. "I'd be
surprised to see drug dealers accept the new EBT cards in exchange for
drugs," Lee said.

Food stamp clients and their authorized household members will be able to
use the card, similar in appearance to a credit card, along with their PIN
number to purchase food with the monthly allotment, Counts said.

Lee said drug dealers would be hesitant to use an illegally purchased card
and PIN number because "the trail would be much easier to trace."

Welfare fraud, or obtaining goods or services from food stamps under false
pretenses, is a Class 6 felony which is punishable by up to five years in
prison for each count, Lee said.

The state of Virginia has 148,000 food stamp customers, according to
information from the Virginia Department of Social Services. Retailers who
are authorized through the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and
Nutrition Service to accept food stamps, but do not have the proper
equipment to accept the EBT cards, will be provided with one Point of
Service machine free through CitiCorp Services Inc.

Across the nation, qualified recipients of food stamps receive the food
stamps monthly by mail, private vendors or at local departments of social
services. The EBT will provide clients their benefits electronically
eliminating not only the paper coupons, but also the risk of losing the
coupons either through theft or fraud.