Comment on Lawmaker: WV food stamps used in 'far-off vacation destinations'

By Eric Eyre West Virginians who receive food stamp benefits spent $52.5 million last year at stores outside the state, according to a report requested by Delegate Jill Upson, R-Jefferson. West Virginia residents used their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) debit cards to make $1 million in purchases in both Florida and North Carolina, $580,000 in South Carolina, and $343,000 in Minnesota. Food stamp recipients in the Mountain State also rang up their cards - albeit for significantly smaller amounts - in Alaska, California, Hawaii and the Virgin Islands, according to a report by the state Department of Health and Human Resources. About 11.5 percent of SNAP benefits were spent at out-of-state stores, mostly in states that border West Virginia. "This report raises red flags that might help us identify possible waste, fraud or abuse of these benefits," Upson said.