DON'T TIE DRUGS TO COLLEGE AID

Last year on the campaign trail, Al Gore acknowledged smoking marijuana
while he was a college student. Asked a similar question, George Bush only
said, "When I was young and irresponsible, I was young and irresponsible."

Good thing they were only trying to get elected president and not applying
for a student loan. Today, infractions of the nation's drug laws can put an
end to a student's college plans. Under a 1998 law that is being fully
enforced for the first time by the Bush administration, according to a
report in the New York Times, students convicted on drug charges are
ineligible for federal financial aid and loans for one year after a
possession conviction, or for two years after a conviction for selling.
Repeat offenders can lose federal college assistance permanently.

No other crime carries such a penalty - not even murder. Not only is it
like two penalties for the same crime, as a student who lost his loan said,
but it is likely to hit hardest poorer students, who rely on such aid, and
blacks, who make up a disproportionate share of those arrested on drug charges.

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., has introduced a bill to repeal the law - a
bill that is likely to gain support as more students run afoul of the law.
Last year 9,200 students lost their college financial aid for all or part
of the academic year.

Americans have always looked to higher education as the path to an improved
life. Let's not add more roadblocks to an already difficult journey.