Pubdate: Tue, 21 Feb 2006
Source: Daily Free Press (Boston U, MA Edu)
Copyright: 2006 Back Bay Publishing, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.dailyfreepress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/796
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hea.htm (Higher Education Act)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?219 (Students for Sensible Drug Policy)

STOPPING DRUGS - AND STUDENTS

"Promoting educational excellence for all Americans."

This is the motto of the U.S. Department of Education, displayed 
prominently under the department's masthead on its homepage. Yet for 
the past  eight years it's been clear that the federal government 
only promotes  educational excellence for some Americans.

In 1998, Congress added a new  provision to the Higher Education Act. 
The so-called Drug Provision prevents  students with past drug 
convictions from receiving federal financial aid,  without which it's 
virtually impossible for millions of students nationwide to  attend college.

It would be nice if the war on drugs was a black and  white affair -- 
if we could say that anyone who's ever done drugs is bad, and 
everyone else is good -- but it's much more complex than that. Many 
children in  low-income neighborhoods have no choice about growing up 
in drug-riddled  environments, where smoking pot or shooting heroin 
is just a way of  life.

College is a way out of this culture of drugs, an announcement 
to  the world that one seeks more out of life than what's offered in 
the slums. Why,  then, do we target those so obviously seeking to 
turn their lives around, those  who need college more than anybody? 
We should be encouraging these students to attend college, not 
erecting obstacles in their way.

People who have  done their time for drugs have, simply, done their 
time, and should be able to  move on. The HEA's Drug Provision 
prevents many from doing this by establishing  a sort of double 
jeopardy for those with a drug record.

Of course, there  will always be exceptions. A handful of students 
will continue their drug habits  once they get to college, and these 
students may end up wasting their financial  aid money by dropping 
out of school. But if one drug offender seems especially  likely to 
be a problem in college, he or she should be evaluated on 
an  individual basis; the vast majority of would-be college students 
intending to turn their lives around don't deserve to be 
automatically punished for a wrong  decision they may have made five 
or ten years ago.

Anyone who has  applied to college and applied for financial aid 
through the FAFSA knows that  these are not easy processes. If people 
show a willingness to put the time and  effort into pursuing higher 
education, they should be commended, not condemned.  According to 
Students for Sensible Drug Policy, which opposes the HEA's Drug 
Provision, more than 175,000 people have had their aid stripped since 
2000.  Congress should repeal the provision before any more students 
are denied the  chance to improve their prospects for a better life.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman