According to this New York Times article from October 7, New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg is facing opposition in his proposed plan to keep food stamp recipients from using the government-run food program to purchase sodas or any other drink with sugar added to it. The arguments for the proposal, which is backed by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, regard soft drinks' role in causing obesity and diabetes, as well as the previous banning of sodas in school lunchrooms.
The article reminds the reader that "the food-stamp program had not changed since 1977: 'any food or food product for home consumption except alcoholic beverages, tobacco, and hot foods or hot food products ready for immediate consumption.'" Basically, right now no one may use food stamps to go out to eat, buy take-out food, or buy beer, wine, cigarettes, etc. The prohibition of these items seems like a good idea, since I don't think anyone wants a person to use food stamps for these kinds of items.
However, adding unhealthy grocery-store items to the list of taboo items will be more difficult. It still seems like a bad idea to use food stamps for Cokes, Doritos, and Twinkies, but where is the line for intervening in which foods are purchased with the vouchers? I, too, would like to believe that the government assistance should be used to buy healthy food, but the truth is that I eat a lot of junk food too, so I would be kind of a hypocrite to proclaim my support of Bloomberg's proposal, wouldn't I?
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