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| Friend, For decades, there’s been a federal lifetime ban on people with drug convictions from accessing nutritional and other forms of critical public assistance. Now there’s finally real support for ending this cruel policy in the White House and Congress. The MEAL Act would lift the ban – it was introduced in the House last May, today it was introduced in the Senate, and we have a shot at getting it included in the budget reconciliation package being negotiated right now. Help us build support by telling your Senators to cosponsor the bill and fight to get it included in the budget. A drug conviction should never be the basis to deny a person their most basic needs. Yet during the tough-on-crime era in the 1990s, Congress imposed a lifetime ban on people with felony drug convictions from receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP or food stamps) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF or welfare) benefits. Individuals and families who qualify for SNAP and TANF have low income, generally living at or below the poverty line. SNAP provides monthly benefits to help buy food. And TANF provides income assistance, childcare, education and job training, transportation, and a variety of other services. This ban – another prohibitionist policy driven by the drug war – 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. Denying people and their families these crucial benefits have had disastrous consequences, depriving them of the support they need to survive especially during a pandemic when so many are already struggling. Congress must act now to help people in need. Contact your Senators in support of lifting the ban on public assistance for drug convictions. For far too long, drug war propaganda has shaped our beliefs on who is worthy of our support, and restricted access to sorely needed public assistance. Together, let’s put an end to it.
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