Arkansas will move forward with a ban on using SNAP for candy and soda despite recent court ruling

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Yahoo! News/AP

Updated Mon, June 29, 2026 at 6:29 PM EDT


Arkansas is moving forward with its plan to ban government food aid from being used to buy candy and soda beginning on Wednesday, even though a federal judge ruled last week that similar restrictions in other states violated federal law. Announcing the plan on Monday, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders cited an urgent need to combat a "chronic disease epidemic" in America, including high rates of obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

On one floor of the state's Department of Human Services, "our state has been approving food stamp purchases for soft drinks and candy, while on another floor, our state's Medicaid program is paying to treat the chronic diseases those products can help create," she said.

Food stamps is an older name for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. The federally funded and state-run program provides a monthly stipend for low-income families to buy groceries. It is used by nearly 42 million Americans, or about one in eight.

In a news release, the Arkansas governor's office cited Stanford University research that found restricting the purchase of sugary drinks with food stamps could reduce rates of obesity and type-2 diabetes. However, overall research remains mixed about whether restricting SNAP purchases improves diet quality and health.

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/arkansas-move-forward-ban-using-222954357.html

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REFERENCE - https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143682991

[Blues Heron]

1. The cruelty is the point.let them have a treat!

[littlemissmartypants]

2. Virtue signaling from a governor who can afford to buy all the cake and soda she wants.

Disgusting.

[Cheezoholic]

3. Indiana did this but it was reversed a couple weeks ago n/t

[OC375]

4. The Dept of Needs: the problem with the US in a nutshell.

I know what you need to be doing. Do it or I will make you, for your own good.

[Oliver Bolliver Butt]

5. Huckabee's stance seems pretty reasonable here. n/t

[mdbl]

6. I have mixed feelings about this, but

The entire US food supply is so poisonous now, it's a little late to try and legislate which food people can buy. If you really want to help, increase organic farming and fresh vegetable availability, particularly in food deserts which are increasing thanks to the one big shitty bill cancelling aid to people that need it.

[OldBaldy1701E]

7. I am very curious as to just how many 'obese' SNAP recipients are in Arkansas.

Now, obese wealthy people... I am sure there are plenty of them, but for some reason, they seem to want to worry about the supposed obese destitute masses that are starving, and yet are 'obese'.

I cannot wait for these rich idiots to figure out that those robots they are so hopeful for are not going to work out as planned and then try to beg the humans to go back to being wage slaves and to make them rich again.

Of course, I would prefer that they just cease to exist, but since our entire society is geared to their benefit, that is a tall order.

[ananda]

8. So they didn't get any money from the candy and soda sellers?

???

[Prof. Toru Tanaka]

9. Remember when the GOP used to gripe and complain about the "nanny state"?