STUDENT AID BAN

The Bush administration has decided to enforce the law denying federal
aid to college students convicted of a drug offense. . . . The law is a
feel-good gesture that was flawed from the start.

The man who wrote and sponsored the original bill, Rep. Mark Souder of
Indiana, . . . said he never intended the law to apply to aid applicants
with prior convictions, only those convicted while receiving aid.

. . . (Under the law,) a convicted murderer remains eligible for aid,
but not a teen-ager caught with a small amount of pot.

A bill to repeal the law was introduced in the last session of Congress
but got nowhere. . . . Members prefer to evade the truth rather than
appear soft on drugs.