No. of Recommendations: 2
No, SNAP and WIC benefits cannot be used for unhealthy foods like cigarettes, liquor, and lottery tickets. Both programs prohibit the purchase of alcohol, tobacco, non-food items, and hot or prepared foods.
I'll take a chance and step in here. SNAP is not 100% of a person's food budget, typically. Dollars not used for basics, like meat and potatoes, because they were paid for with a SNAP card, can be used for liquor and smokes. If the people did not have a SNAP card, then they would need to pay dollars for the meat and potatoes, and have none left for liquor and smokes. I have seen that go down many times in the store, back when people used physical food stamps: one pile of actual food, paid with stamps, then a pile of liquor and smokes, for which they pay cash.
Some years ago, there was a pizzeria concept that tried to cheat SNAP. SNAP cannot be used for prepared food, like take out pizza. The concept was the pizza was made to order, but not baked, which made it "groceries", not "prepared food". The customer was supposed to take it home, and bake it themselves. There used to be one of those stores where I live. I read the few on-line reviews. Fell over laffing when one person complained "the pizza was way undercooked". He clearly did not understand the concept was to cheat SNAP.
Steve
