STUDENTS WITH DRUG CONVICTIONS NOW LOSING FEDERAL FINANCIAL AID

CLEVELAND (AP) -- About 36,000 college students won't get federal financial
aid this fall because of drug convictions.

Under a law that is being fully enforced for the first time, students
convicted of drug possession are ineligible for federal financial aid for
one year. Students convicted of selling drugs lose aid for two years.

Justin Marino, 23, of Poland, a Youngstown State University student, is one
of them.

Marino was convicted of two drug misdemeanors last year after he got caught
growing a marijuana plant in his bedroom closet. He lost his eligibility
for education loans, grants and work assistance this year.

"It's got to be one of the stupidest laws I ever heard of," he said. "I
wasn't using the money they gave for school on drugs."

Students deemed ineligible can be reinstated for aid if they enter a
rehabilitation program that includes random urine tests.

But critics say that the law does not define rehabilitation, that such
programs are often costly and that the law amounts to a second punishment.

The law, a provision of the Higher Education Act Amendments of 1998, went
into effect last fall but is being fully enforced for the first time this
school year.

"The majority of these people have first-time marijuana convictions," said
Shawn Heller of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, a Washington group
working to charge the law. "It will have a disproportionate effect on
low-income and minority students."

U.S. Rep. Mark E. Souder, R-Ind., who sponsored the law, never intended for
students to be denied aid because of transgressions that happened years
before, said his spokesman, Seth Becker. The intent was to discourage
students from breaking drug laws while they were getting aid, he said.

"The original intent was to make sure that students who receive taxpayer
money out of your pocket and my pocket have a responsibility to live within
the law," Becker said. "Obviously, we're not particularly pleased with the
way this is working."

But Souder still supports the concept, so he opposes a bill by Rep. Barney
Frank, D-Mass., that would repeal the law.

Becker said Souder is working with the Bush administration to change the
way the law is administered.

But if negotiations with administration officials fail to fix the law,
Souder would not rule out introducing a new bill, he said.

"We're certainly not in favor of repealing," Becker said. "But it was never
intended to be used this way. There are people being denied federal aid who
should not be denied federal aid."