Pubdate: Mon, 30 Apr 2001
Source: Daily Breeze (CA)
Copyright: 2001 Daily Breeze
Contact:  http://www.mapinc.org/media/881
Website: http://www.dailybreeze.com/
Note: This originally appeared in the Indianapolis Star News.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hea.htm (Higher Education Act)

STUDENT AID BAN

The Bush administration has decided to enforce the law denying federal
aid to college students convicted of a drug offense. . . . The law is a
feel-good gesture that was flawed from the start.

The man who wrote and sponsored the original bill, Rep. Mark Souder of
Indiana, . . . said he never intended the law to apply to aid applicants
with prior convictions, only those convicted while receiving aid.

. . . (Under the law,) a convicted murderer remains eligible for aid,
but not a teen-ager caught with a small amount of pot.

A bill to repeal the law was introduced in the last session of Congress
but got nowhere. . . . Members prefer to evade the truth rather than
appear soft on drugs.
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MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk