Pubdate: 7 Mar 1999 Source: Boston Globe (MA) Copyright: 1999 Globe Newspaper Company. Contact: http://www.boston.com/globe/ Author: Clare Kittredge, Globe Correspondent CAMPUS ACTIVISTS HIT LAW STRIPPING AID FROM DRUG OFFENDERS DURHAM - Steven Diamond is no champion of drug abuse. Still, the outspoken University of New Hampshire senior is bothered by a new law that strips federal education dollars from college students convicted of doing drugs. ''I'm not saying people should do drugs,'' said Diamond, a member of New Hampshire Youth Mobilization, a campus group focusing on social justice issues. It's just that taking away a student's aid money isn't the answer, he argued. A provision of the Higher Education Act of 1998 is provoking anger among some New Hampshire student activists who say it is punitive and discriminates against less affluent students. The law denies or delays federal education grant, loan or subsidized job opportunities for any student convicted of owning or selling drugs under federal or state law. The measure, signed into law last fall, is touted by politicians as a way to get tough on drugs. Federal Department of Education enforcement guidelines are expected later this month. But campus critics here contend that it is misguided. And a Washington-based group organizing students across the country to lobby Congress for its repeal charges that it turns the nation's drug war into ''a war on student access to higher education.'' ''We're enforcing the drug war against the poor,'' objects Adam Smith, associate director of the Drug Reform Coordination Network. UNH sophomore Alice Crocker is state student coordinator of Amnesty International, which has six college and 14 high school groups across New Hampshire. ''I'm a `straight-edge' and I don't think anyone needs to take in any foreign substance into their body,'' said Crocker, using slang to describe someone who does not use drugs or alcohol. Careful not to judge her peers, Crocker said: ''Abusing drugs is a sympton of feeling alienated and not understanding yourself, and taking away money is not the solution. The solution is raising kids to understand themselves. All this punishment doesn't focus on the problem. It focuses on making kids pay.'' Diamond accuses some politicians of forgetting their own youthful drug indiscretions. ''Some of the same people who made these laws - Newt Gingrich, Bill Clinton, multiple key politicians - have already smoked pot themselves,'' Diamond said. ''Now they want to take away your financial aid so you can't get an education ... It's really hypocritical.'' Just how long the new law deprives a student of federal education money depends on the offense: one year for first-time drug possession, two years for the second-time drug possession or first-time drug sale, and indefinitely from then on. A student can apply for money back earlier by going through a drug rehabilitation program and two random drug tests over six months. But critics say that is too time-consuming and fails to take into account the lack of publicly funded treatment programs, again penalizing students who are not affluent. They also say the new measure doesn't look at circumstances surrounding the offense or even what drug was involved. National statistics show that more than half of high school seniors admit to having used some sort of controlled substance at one time. ''That's a problem we're concerned about,'' said Adam Smith. ''But we don't believe putting obstacles in the way to college is the way to deal with it.'' Marijuana remains the drug of choice among the young, he said. ''The overwhelming majority of young people convicted of drug offenses are found guilty of simple drug possession. Our answer as a society is we'll make it more difficult for young people to educate themselves? And because aid is need-based, the penalty will only apply to poor and moderate-income students.'' Another issue is whether the punishment fits the crime. While some students need drug treatment, Smith said that, for many, ''marijuana possession doesn't mean you need drug treatment any more than an 18-year-old caught with a beer means they're alcoholic.'' Lisa Harrison, a spokeswoman for Senator Bob Smith, points out that the Higher Education Act won near unanimous approval in the Senate because its main thrust was ''to increase higher education funding.'' ''The reason Senator Smith supported the bill is it lowered the student loan rate, increased Pell grants, creates a loan-forgiveness program for students who obtain work in the child-care industry or gain teaching jobs in school districts that serve low-income children, and increased the work-study program,'' she said. But because the senator favors ''a strong antidrug message,'' Harrison said ''this provision is certainly one facet of [the higher education act] which he believes will help get drug use and drug abuse under control.'' Not all New Hampshire college students are up in arms about the new law. A brief check at Dartmouth College, for example, yielded no student activists willing to make public statements about the issue. And UNH sophomore Fred Thornton, student senator for Tau Kappa Epsilon, applauds the measure as ''an attempt to curtail the rising drug problem in the country.'' ''If you're doing drugs, you're not in a situation where you can really learn,'' said Thornton, a member of the university's Drug Advisory Council. ''You need to take time off and find a solution to your problems.'' And realistically, the new law may not affect many students. For example at UNH, there were 36 arrests for drug possession in 1997, said Bill Fischer, UNH associate director of student life. In 1996, the figure was 31. ''We're looking at a relatively small number in relation to a student population of roughly 10,000,'' said Fischer, who runs the UNH Judicial Programs Office. But while the university has a ''zero tolerance'' policy for drug use, most typical first drug possession offenses do not block students from pursuing their education. Fischer said a typical first-time sanction for drug possession in a residence hall could be eviction from the dorms and disciplinary probation, plus a referral to health services. A subsequent offense would most likely lead to separation from the university for a period of time, he said. Critics say the new law is another story. One UNH student said she got a close look at US drug policies a while back when a friend was denied a federally funded environmental job in New Hampshire because of a past drug offense. ''I think it unfairly discriminates against people who might have had problems when they were younger,'' said the student, who did not want to be identified. ''It's a stage. This is obviously a time in most people's lives when they experiment ... Most college students should be taken off campus to a halfway house for their alcohol problem.'' For Diamond, the issue brings to mind famed children's activist Marian Wright Edelman, founder of the Children's Defense Fund. At a rally for the nation's children several years ago, Edelman told a huge crowd: ''Some of our children are tracked for Princeton and Yale, and some of our children are tracked for prison and jail.'' - --- MAP posted-by: Mike Gogulski