Pay for Lap dances & drugs with food stamps in Ohio

a reply to: Quadrivium

Exactly!

I don't care what anyone calls me, I buy my own food and don't waste taxpayer $$$$.

originally posted by: JAGStorm
a reply to: Quadrivium

Exactly!

I don't care what anyone calls me, I buy my own food and don't waste taxpayer $$$$.

Good on you there

When I worked grocery, the EBT people would always go for weird stuff like cases of energy drinks.

Why do they need that much energy if they aren't working?!

a reply to: NarcolepticBuddha

My guess it's a way of gaming the system, they are re-selling that stuff.

originally posted by: seagull
a reply to: wantsome

Or a late model Cadillac. I've seen that, as well.

There is no reason that the rules can not be tightened up, so as to allow the money to go to those who are truly in dire straits without it.

There is no denying that it's a worthy program, right there with WIC. But there's also no denying that something should be done to eliminate the fraud.

Fraud with food stamps isn't as rampant as you think.. Yeah I've seen people abuse them. I saw some kid at the gas station buy $15 worth of junk. I'm on food stamps and human services crawls up my rear every chance they get. They check bank accounts they check with department of motor vehicles. You can't have more then $3000 in assets. My aunt was on my grandmothers bank account because she has to manage my grandmothers money. My grandmother has Alzheimer's. My aunt is on food stamps because she had cancer and got a liver transplant. She's on disability. She didn't report that she was on my grandmothers account. The found out and cut her benefits off. It took six months to get them back. I've been on disability 10 years and I've only seen 2 instances of people buying junk food. I live off of tuna fish and spam. I haven't had a steak in 3 years. I could go buy lobster if I wanted but I don't. I don't buy soda. I drink powdered tea and coffee. I've seen people on disability that can't even afford tires for their wheelchair. I have it good now I live with my grandmother but I have to prove all of my expenses to human services. I'm one step away from being homeless. When my grandmother passes I don't know what I'm going to do. I have a 3rd world income in the richest country on earth. I have a serious condition and I have no support system or anyone to fall back on.

a reply to: wantsome

This is one of those times I really wish I could say I agree.

I worked retail, a grocery store, for 15 years, and I saw the abuse first hand. Now I will agree that it's not as wide spread as some would have us believe. But it's not rare, either.

I know that some people make that EBT scream, they use it so well, and there are far more like that then like an acquaintance of mine who quit his job so that he and his girl friend could get on EBT and every other sort of assistance they could, so that he could, in essence, become a professional video game player...seriously, those were the words out of his mouth to me.

He's not alone, I saw people use the cash side of the card to buy Lotto tickets. $50.00, or more after buying beer or some such...

What the ratio is, I don't know. I hope it's less than I fear it is...I'd love to be wrong, y'know?

But I'm never going to be of the mind that it should be done away with. It serves a badly needed function, for those who can't work for what ever reasons. Sometimes, you have to take the bad with the good.

a reply to: seagull

geez seagull....you're being reasonable about food stamps?....careful, you might be thought of as a flaming democrat

a reply to: wantsome

It may be true that you don't buy those things and you haven't seen others, but it doesn't mean it isn't happening.

www.pewtrusts.org...

They can actually see what people are buying. This isn't speculation, this is fact.
"Twenty-three cents of every food stamp dollar is used to buy candy, desserts, salty snacks, sugar and sweetened beverages, according to a November report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that for the first time revealed purchasing habits under the program in detail. "

I'm not sure where you live, but all I have to do is go to a certain grocery store and I'll see people buy junk with food stamps. The actual register says food stamps. I couldn't believe the stuff people are buying with it. For those that don't believe me, go to any Woodman's grocery store in the state of Wisconsin and go check out. You'll see it with your own eyes.
Also, this isn't just about your assets, it's about people that legitimately get the benefits and then use them for illegitimate things.

If anyone should be mad about what is happening it's a person like you. There are people gaming the system, and every person that is doing that is taking away benefits from you that really need them.

originally posted by: seagull
a reply to: wantsome

This is one of those times I really wish I could say I agree.

I worked retail, a grocery store, for 15 years, and I saw the abuse first hand. Now I will agree that it's not as wide spread as some would have us believe. But it's not rare, either.

I know that some people make that EBT scream, they use it so well, and there are far more like that then like an acquaintance of mine who quit his job so that he and his girl friend could get on EBT and every other sort of assistance they could, so that he could, in essence, become a professional video game player...seriously, those were the words out of his mouth to me.

He's not alone, I saw people use the cash side of the card to buy Lotto tickets. $50.00, or more after buying beer or some such...

What the ratio is, I don't know. I hope it's less than I fear it is...I'd love to be wrong, y'know?

But I'm never going to be of the mind that it should be done away with. It serves a badly needed function, for those who can't work for what ever reasons. Sometimes, you have to take the bad with the good.

I guess fraud really varies state to state since it's run by state agencies and funded by the feds. There was the story of the girl that hit the lotto and kept her assistance here. She didn't get away for it for long. I'm careful what I do with my assistance and I'm grateful for what I have. I've had to learn to shop and spend it wisely. A couple weeks ago I felt guilty buying a box of doughnuts that were on sale buy one get one free. I'm 2 blocks north of Detroit and they put a billboard up saying EBT fraud is illegal. I was kind of shocked because I've never seen anything nefarious at the grocery store. I felt a bit stigmatized by it. I'm sure there are drug addicts that get it and sell their cards but I don't know anyone abusing it personally. When I go into human services I mostly see single moms foreigners and disabled people. They ask on the application if you've ever been convicted of felonies related to drugs. I grew up in a trailer park with some of the biggest scumbags around no one ever talked about scamming the system for food stamps. I knew some pretty hardcore drug addicts too.

a reply to: JAGStorm

Back when I was using heroin, I heard of a guy who ran a food truck and would buy food stamps for 50 cents on the dollar if you knew someone to introduce you. So however much he was paying at Costco or Wal-Mart for his food truck inventory, everything covered by those EBT cards was automatically cut in half. A lot of addicts sell them to their dealers for half price, but after they have $1000+ in food stamps for the month, they start turning people away or only offering 30 or 40 cents on the dollar. So people found other ways.

I never found him but I did go lookin once. I guess the deal was you would have to give him your card, and he would pay you the next day after he spent your food stamps which is similar to how dealers did it, because people would give their dealer their card with like $300 on it, and the dealer would give them their dope, and when the dealer tried to spend the card, they discovered it had been disconnected.

I thought half price was a rip off. So I would go inside grocery stores and approach people. J would tell them I had a gift card that I was never gonna use, and I would offer to go up to the register with them and pay for their groceries or a certain amount, like if I pay for $100 you just give me $80 so you saved $20 on your groceries. I got kicked out of a place or two. But I got a lot more for my food stamps. And in CASH, not trade value, so I didn't have to spend all of it on dope. I could get food, smokes, gas...


Now that I am off dope, (since March 2017) I will be totally honest about my addiction in hopes that the information I have to share will be useful to someone. I am NOT "clean". I go to a methadone clinic and I smoke weed every day. For many of us without a family or any Real, constant support system to give us hope, this is the only way. Before marijuana legalization in my state, I could not have done it.

I read the Autobiography of Malcolm X about 8 years ago I guess, and one credit to the Nation of Islam was their method of getting addicts off dope. They would bring the addict in, put them on a bed, and would totally surround them with love and attention, wiping off the sweat, vomit or diahreah with washcloths and when they begged for a tiny hit of dope to ease the pain, they encouraged them and told them you're gonna be free from this evil, and of course everything they did was laced with racism against whites, I can't say if the cultish "us against everyone" mentality helped in the addicts recovery or not, but the drug experts of the time, back in the 60s, came asking the NOI, according to Malcolm X, about their methods because they were far more successful than, for example, the 12 steps program.

It goes along with the test they did with mice. Stick a mouse alone in a box with two bottles, one has water, the other has water laced with heroin. Everytime they would choose the heroin water until they overdosed and died. They redid that experiment, but this time with a larger cage with a little community of mice, and they filled the cage with toys, and just things that mice like. These move would choose heroin water only occasionally, as they had access to a healthy social life. None of them overdosed and died.

a reply to: seagull
I agree that "it should not be done away with", there are those that need a helping hand ever so often.
With that said, I like the "Harvest Box" idea.
Instead of giving money (in the form of EBT card) give them the essentials.
Caned goods, meat, powdered milk, rice flour ext.

originally posted by: Quadrivium
a reply to: seagull
I agree that "it should not be done away with", there are those that need a helping hand ever so often.
With that said, I like the "Harvest Box" idea.
Instead of giving money (in the form of EBT card) give them the essentials.
Caned goods, meat, powdered milk, rice flour ext.

Screw you I'd eat your dog before I drink powdered milk

a reply to: 3n19m470

You hit on another topic that is seriously lacking in our country. Mental health and drug addiction support.
It is at critical levels. It is reaching the farm lands where I live and now people are starting to be concerned.
I do believe like in your post, it is all related, poverty, mental health, drug abuse, corporate abuse etc.
It's connected and we need to treat all of those thing or none of them will be successful.

a reply to: jimmyx

Since I am a democrat, that's hardly an insult should someone call me that...

I am, however, not the typical, or rather stereotypical, democrat. I'm rather more right of center than most. Odd, I know.

However, there it is, and I've always been reasonable about EBT. My only buggaboo about it is the fraud. The system is far too easily gamed, which ultimately hurts the people that need it most.

a reply to: Quadrivium

There used to be both.

Cheese (actually it was fairly decent cheese). Dry milk (horrid, horrid stuff-but better than nothing). The one I went to for my Mom usually had things like peanut butter, rice (not always), and other staples.

When my Dad was unemployed after the airline he worked for went **ahem** down in flames, it was there when we badly needed it for those two months...along with the old script food stamps.

The only part of EBT that I've ever had issues with is the cash side of it. That is far too easily abused. The food side does have rules. Can't buy prepared deli items, though you can, or could, buy cold deli...the difference is? Anyway, the only thing I'd change is to tighten up the cash side of it. The original intent was to help people pay for utilities and such, not smokes, and beer.

a reply to: wantsome

I know, nasty stuff. Even my cat wouldn't touch it. He'd get this utterly disgusted, as only a cat can, look on his face, and start to try to bury it.

It's better than nothing...but not much.

a reply to: 3n19m470

I wish you well in your recovery and journey.

originally posted by: wantsome

originally posted by: Quadrivium
a reply to: seagull
I agree that "it should not be done away with", there are those that need a helping hand ever so often.
With that said, I like the "Harvest Box" idea.
Instead of giving money (in the form of EBT card) give them the essentials.
Caned goods, meat, powdered milk, rice flour ext.

Screw you I'd eat your dog before I drink powdered milk

This is part of the damn problem... beggars can't be choosers. This used to be common sense and unquestioned, now we have a world where the beggars apparently feel it is their right to set the conditions of things other people are giving to them...

originally posted by: wantsome

originally posted by: Quadrivium
a reply to: seagull
I agree that "it should not be done away with", there are those that need a helping hand ever so often.
With that said, I like the "Harvest Box" idea.
Instead of giving money (in the form of EBT card) give them the essentials.
Caned goods, meat, powdered milk, rice flour ext.

Screw you I'd eat your dog before I drink powdered milk

Guess that all depends on how hungry you get. The old saying "beggars can't be choosy" comes to mind.

originally posted by: burdman30ott6

originally posted by: wantsome

originally posted by: Quadrivium
a reply to: seagull
I agree that "it should not be done away with", there are those that need a helping hand ever so often.
With that said, I like the "Harvest Box" idea.
Instead of giving money (in the form of EBT card) give them the essentials.
Caned goods, meat, powdered milk, rice flour ext.

Screw you I'd eat your dog before I drink powdered milk

This is part of the damn problem... beggars can't be choosers. This used to be common sense and unquestioned, now we have a world where the beggars apparently feel it is their right to set the conditions of things other people are giving to them...

Just saw we had the same thought on beggars.
Many people in the system that have been on it awhile feel entitled now. Many of them eat better than my family and I.
For many, many years now we have been a single income family. There was a rough patch there, where we got EBT, and I am not ashamed because that is what it is there for.
It is not meant to be a source of life long income though.

I'm not a friggin beggar. I paid into the system like everyone else. We don't even feed prison inmates powdered milk. If you should injure yourself or somehow become incapacitated and not be able to work would you be happy with powdered milk? Some of you better hope you don't end up disabled. If you're over weight smoke do heavy labor when you get into your 50's bad things can happen. I didn't ask to become disabled and I sure as hell don't like living in this country on a 3rd wold income. Yeah it's easy to sit in your ivory tower and look down on the rest of us. I lost everything I worked for when I became disabled and I've experienced more hardship then most have in 10 lifetimes. Better hope you don't get sick before you pay your house off. They don't give you enough to make your car insurance payments let alone a mortgage.