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Friend,

For more than thirty years, the U.S. has used drug war propaganda to shape our beliefs on who is worthy of our support, and to restrict access to sorely needed public benefits. 

These cruel policies make it harder for families to meet basic needs and do nothing to help people struggling to put food on the table.

Even though mandated drug tests for benefits are ineffective, expensive, and harmful to families, it's required for welfare and food stamp applicants in many states. And there’s even a federal lifetime ban on this crucial public assistance for people with felony drug convictions unless states affirmatively opt out of the ban.

A new bill in the U.S. House would repeal this unfair law: urge your Representative to support the MEAL Act and lift the lifetime felony drug ban on welfare and food stamps.

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DPA has been leading the coalition fighting for the Making Essentials Affordable and Lawful (MEAL) Act. It would repeal the counterproductive “tough-on-crime” era law that imposed a lifetime ban on people with felony drug convictions from receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits. 

Individuals and families who qualify for SNAP and TANF are low income, generally living at or below the poverty line. SNAP provides monthly benefits to help buy food. And TANF provides income assistance, child care, education and job training, transportation, aid to children at risk of abuse and neglect, and a variety of other services.

A drug conviction should never be the basis to deny a person their most basic needs.

Yet people with felony drug convictions face a lifetime ban on crucial SNAP and TANF assistance. This ban disproportionately harms women and people of color, and it also affects children – because when a parent is made ineligible for SNAP and TANF, their family receives a much lower overall household benefit. 

And it’s especially egregious in a pandemic with record unemployment, and when public assistance is even more essential for millions of Americans to ensure they can still put food on the table and keep the lights on.

Help us repeal the federal lifetime ban on benefits for drug convictions so people and their families have the support they need to survive.

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TAKE ACTION: [link removed]
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Twisted drug war logic has led to far too many people being denied critical public assistance necessary for health and well-being. Instead of shutting people out based on a drug test or conviction, we should ensure that everyone has the basic resources they need to achieve financial stability.

To learn more, visit our site [link removed] and register to join us on May 26 for our Uprooting the Drug War Discussion Series: Public Benefits, the Drug War, and Denial of Benefits: [link removed]  

Sincerely,

Grant Smith
Deputy Director, National Affairs
Drug Policy Alliance
 

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