A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD Should a student's past history with drugs be considered when determining whether or not the student receives financial aid? Let me answer this questions with a few of my own: Why do rapists, murderers, and thieves qualify for student loans, and someone who was busted smoking a joint does not? Why does the government want to penalize people-TWICE- for one mistake. Does double jeopardy sound familiar? Does the student who abuses Valium, Phentramine, tobacco, alcohol, or some other legal drug get penalized for their "problem" or is it just the ones who caught with the illegal drugs? If every student who ever used drugs was denied, would there be any students left at our educational institutions? A list of prominent people who admitted to using "drugs" at least once. Vice President Al Gore Texas Gov. George W. Bush Carl Sagan George Washington (grew hemp for both industry and medicine) Other likely users? Your neighbor who owns the successful business down the street. One of your child's favorite teachers. (However, this doesn't mean the teacher pushes drugs upon the student!) Half of the people eating at your local fast-food place. The judge who just sentenced you for marijuana possession. I could go on for hours or days with this list of people who could have been denied a chance to go to school because of past "indiscretions." Our world would look much different if they had been persecuted like today's students are. Is this type of treatment really fair to the American people? We have already segregated over a quarter of our population by declaring a "War on Drugs," so do we need to continually treat those who possibly made a "mistake" by taking "drugs" worse than those who molest your daughter? Minimum sentencing guidelines and legislation like this make this last statement a cold reality. If I ever get in trouble for anything, I hope I keep it something simple and harmless like armed robbery, rape or murder. Obviously they are much less dangerous to society than is a drug user. Sean McCoy, Pocatello
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