The hispanic supermarket near my house accepts food stamps for cigarettes.
Turn them in.
You should report that place. That is flat-out illegal.
Of course.
The fraud starts with the state employees who are encouraged to break the rules and give out food stamps to non-needy people and illegal aliens.
Though not a smoker, I am still willing to regard cigarettes as one of the basic food groups, along with diet coke, pretzels, and kippered herring.
But seriously, my question is whether going to a card helps police this kind of thing. In principle it should because the computer codes could be set up to refuse payment on prohibited items and/or create an electronic record for computerized audit and enforcement action. Old-style food stamps are wide open to abuse because they are a form of money, and money is fungible. Food stamps became an underground currency. The card might help stop this.