SCHOLARSHIP FOR STUDENTS WITH DRUG CONVICTIONS

Last week the student government at the University of California,
Berkeley created a school-funded scholarship for students who are
unable to receive federal financial aid under a law that renders them
ineligible because they have drug convictions. Nationwide, nearly
200,000 aspiring students have been stripped of their aid since the
penalty was added as an amendment to the Higher Education Act in 1998.

"While the aid elimination penalty is intended to reduce substance
abuse, it actually causes more drug problems by blocking access to
education," said Kris Krane, executive director of Students for
Sensible Drug Policy in Washington, D.C. "While we're pressuring
Congress to do the right thing by overturning the penalty, students
at Berkeley and other colleges are taking action to help their peers
stay in school where they belong." Congress is expected to revisit
the penalty this year as part of a reauthorization of the entire
Higher Education Act, and advocates are hopeful that the new
Congressional leadership will move to reinstate aid to students with
drug convictions.

"The student government is doing what is necessary to provide the
means to an education for students in need," said David Israel
Wasserman, the Berkeley student senator who sponsored the bill
creating the scholarship. "We at Berkeley are happy to help lead a
national movement to eliminate this harmful and unfair penalty, and
we hope that students from other schools will continue to get involved."

UC-Berkeley joins four other schools - Yale University, Hampshire
College, Swarthmore College and Western Washington University - that
have created scholarships for students with drug convictions. More
than 125 other student governments have passed resolutions calling on
Congress to overturn the aid elimination penalty.

Students can take action by sending a prewritten letter to their
legislators online at www.SchoolsNotPrisons.com.

Students for Sensible Drug Policy is an international grassroots
network of students who are concerned about the impact drug abuse has
on our communities, but who also know that the War on Drugs is
failing our generation and our society. SSDP mobilizes and empowers
young people to participate in the political process, pushing for
sensible policies to achieve a safer and more just future, while
fighting back against counterproductive Drug War policies,
particularly those that directly harm students and youth.