Pubdate: Fri, 11 May 2001
Source: Herald American (NY)
Copyright: 2001, Syracuse Herald American
Contact:  http://www.syracuse.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1117
Cited: Drug Reform Coordination Network http://www.drcnet.org/
Students for a Sensible Drug Policy http://www.ssdp.org/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hea.htm (Higher Education Act)

MISGUIDED PENALTY

Law Aimed At Students Could Result In More Drug Abuse, Not Less.

Drug war casualties just keep piling up, beckoning an overhaul of policies 
that are often counterproductive. A recent example is the law that 
penalizes college students who've been punished for a drug offense, ruling 
them ineligible for low-interest federal education loans and grants for one 
academic year.

The last thing we want to do is make it unnecessarily harder for people to 
stay in college. Drug crimes obviously must not go unpunished, with 
rehabilitation being the goal. But effectively booting students from 
college who've served a judge's sentence would only make matters worse.

Without the ability to better themselves through college, students already 
motivated to stay in school and learn will be left open to society's 
fringes to focus on using or selling again. That does no one any good in 
the end.

Russell Selkirk, a freshman at Ohio State University, was found guilty of 
smoking marijuana in a car in December 1999. His sentence was a $250 fine, 
suspension of his driver's license, 20 hours of community service and a 
year's probation.

He applied for financial aid for the coming academic year a month later and 
was denied because of the offense. And since many of those arrested and 
charged are poor, they often drop out, increasing the chance they'll never 
return and finish.

The enforcement also calls into question again the disproportionate number 
of African Americans who get arrested for drug offenses. While about 13 
percent of the people taking illicit drugs are black, the same as their 
proportion in the general population, blacks represent 55 percent of the 
drug convictions, said David Borden, executive director of the Drug Reform 
Coordination Network.

That's unfair and disproportionately damaging to families and communities. 
The newly enforced law, passed in 1998 and brought to life by the Bush 
administration, only adds to an already existing problem.

Students convicted on drug charges become ineligible for federal financial 
aid and loans for one year after a possession conviction, or for two years 
after a conviction for selling drugs. If they undergo a rehabilitation 
program that includes two random urine tests, they can be excused. Repeat 
offenders can face permanent loss of federal assistance to attend college.

No other crime carries such a provision, points out Gov. Gary E. Johnson of 
New Mexico, who has sponsored state legislation to decriminalize possession 
of small amounts of marijuana.

The sudden enforcement of this bad law has energized students. Nearly 60 
student governments have passed resolutions against the law, many of them 
complaining that it unfairly punishes students in financial need, while 
wealthier students with drug records face no retribution.

Students for a Sensible Drug Policy has seen 90 chapters open on college 
campuses, with another 200 in the works, largely as a result student 
protesting the law.

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., reintroduced legislation to repeal the law. 
That would be the wise thing to do.
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