WAR ON DRUGS ENDANGERS FAMILIES, NSU SPEAKER SAYS

NORFOLK - Blacks represent 13 percent of the population, about 13 percent
of illegal drug users in the country and a disproportionate 55 percent of
the citizens convicted on drug charges, said Sean Heller, national director
of Students for Sensible Drug Policy in Washington.

"The war on drugs is ruining lives, destroying families and wasting
millions in tax dollars," Heller told students at Norfolk State University.
"And we have more African Americans in shackles today than since slavery --
well, metaphorical shackles."

Heller was one of several speakers Tuesday at NSU for the start of a
three-day, three-university regional conference, "The Celling Of A Nation:
Prisons In American Culture." Nearly 100 students and visitors attended the
event, which is free and open to the public. The conference continues from
7 to 9:30 p.m. today at Regent University's Library Auditorium with a
discussion on improving newspaper coverage of prisons and inmates. Dennis
Bounds, a Regent University film professor, is to analyze Hollywood's
depiction of prison life. Former prisoners will discuss media
representation of prisons compared to real life.

From 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, the conference resumes at Old
Dominion University's Webb University Center.

Barbara Zahm, a documentary film director, is to show and discuss her film
"The Last Graduation," which documents the closing of the Marist College
prison education program in New York. Lou Lombardo, a criminal justice
professor at ODU, also is to discuss alternatives to prisons.

"This is a topic that we should be discussing in our schools and
communities and we don't do that," Anthony Wood, a NSU graduate student, said.

Heller said anti-crime efforts, such as mandatory minimum sentences, the
so-called "three strikes" law which denies parole to anyone convicted of
three violent felonies, and the war on drugs, have fueled a prison-building
frenzy that has swept a generation into prisons instead of classrooms.

According to Students for Sensible Drug Policy, public funding for prisons
has increased while funding for higher education has been cut.

"Education is the answer," Heller said. "Education is the way to reduce crime."

Tuesday's conference focused, in part, on the drug provision to the Higher
Education Act of 1998, which delays or denies federal financial aid
eligibility to anyone with a prior drug conviction.

The provision hinders thousands of needy people seeking financial aid for
schooling because of a misdemeanor or felony drug conviction, said Steven
Silverman, campus coordinator for Drug Reform Coordination Network. The
Higher Education Act includes financial aid programs such as Pell Grants,
Work-Study and Perkins Loans for students in need.

Reach John Hopkins at jhopkins@pilotonline.com or 446-2793.