An Albuquerque business owner whose smoke shop legislative analysts recently flagged for suspiciously high federal food assistance revenues told Source NM that his shop’s high sales don’t signal fraud. Rather, they reflect the few grocery options in a struggling neighborhood.
Last week, the New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee released the results of a long-awaited Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program evaluation, which concluded that the New Mexico Health Care Authority could do more to investigate and analyze potential fraud in a state where roughly one in five residents receive federal food aid.
Among its findings, LFC analysts identified two stores — which they characterized as smoke shops — authorized by the United States Agriculture Department to accept SNAP that received more than $400,000 in SNAP revenue in 2025. That figure is approximately seven times more than the average revenues roughly 1,700 authorized retailers statewide generated that year…