DRUGS CAN END A STUDENT'S AID

Ames, IA. - Campus police say they caught Iowa State University freshman
Kary Bledsoe with marijuana in his dormitory room last month.

There's more at stake than a criminal record. Bledsoe, who is awaiting a
court date, says he might need to drop out of school if convicted.

College students who are convicted of drug offenses risk losing their
financial aid under a federal law that took effect this year. Bledsoe,
20, depends on student loans to get though school.

"It's one thing to punish somebody," said Bledsoe, of Omaha. "It's
another thing to take away their future."

A nationwide campaign headed by a Massachusetts congressman has set out
to reverse the law, which many educators and drug counselors view as
discriminatory and counterproductive.

"This law represents the war on drugs in all its hysteria," said Ben
Stone, director of the Iowa Civil Liberties Union. "We need a new
approach."

The little-known law denies or delays federal financial aid, including
grants, loans or work programs. Students are ineligible for one year
after their first drug possession conviction. Multiple convictions mean
indefinite ineligibility. Penalties are stricter for students convicted
of selling drugs.

The penalties could "kick out a whole lot of people," said Bledsoe, who
studies political science.

"Marijuana's everywhere," he said. "I know guys carrying a 3.9
grade-point average who smoked weed every day last semester."

At ISU, police must report drug offenses and other crimes to the Dean of
Students office. Students are responsible for reporting drug convictions
on a financial aid form due each January, ISU officials said. The
responses are checked against a database maintained by the federal
government.

Seventy percent of ISU students fill out the aid form each year. One ISU
student lost financial aid this year because of the new law, said Earl
Dowling, director of the financial aid office at ISU.

Financial aid officials at many universities are trying to help overturn
the legislation, said Dowling.

U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-IA., voted for the law on the condition that
students regain eligibility for financial aid if they go through a
rehabilitation program, a spokesman for Harkin's office said.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-IA., called federal financial aid "a privilege,
and it can be forfeited by breaking the law."

"Denial of such financial aid doesn't deny an individual the chance to
attend college," Grassley said. "Many students go through college
without government assistance, instead relying on their families or on
working to pay their own way."

Loras Jaeger, director of ISU's Department of Public Safety, said drug
arrests have soared in recent years. His department's statistics don't
reflect campus arrests made by Ames police or Story County sheriff's
officials.

A widespread effort to kill the law has been started by U.S. Rep. Barney
Frank, D-Mass. Students at 75 colleges and universities have joined the
protest by opening chapters of Students for Sensible Drug Policy. No
Iowa schools are involved in the group.

Stone compares the law to a bill passed last year that allows Iowa
college officials the option of notifying parents when their children
violate school alcohol policies.

"They're trying to cleanse the college campuses of their vices," Stone
said. "It's the new Prohibition."