In the 60's, we used to get stamps for buying at the grocery store!
To me, the sad part is when you hear stories of the food stamp users putting groceries into their Mercedes. Too much fraud, and I just don't think there's any practical way to stop it. And many really do need food stamps, so I don't think it's right to just do away with that kind of assistance. Maybe we have people who witness abuses call a hot line - the gov people who oversee this stuff are overwhelmed by fraud (and they are not up to the task - how about giving them a bonus for catching fraudsters - can you imagine?). And suppose you hit food stamp fraudsters hard, jail time and/or big time fines for egregious cases, and publicize the heck out of it.