SMOKE A JOINT, LOSE YOUR LOAN

Starting This July, A New Law Will Cut Off Federal Financial Aid To
Students Convicted Of Drug Offenses.

As Rep. Barney Frank points out, violent felons are evidently more welcome
in US universities than pot smokers.

"Anne" is the type of success story that makes college admissions officers
smile. She had little money growing up, but with the help of federal loans
and a lot of sweat has managed to afford an education at Ohio's Antioch
College. In addition to attending school full-time, she currently works two
jobs, one of which involves teaching drama to grade-school children. If all
goes well, she will graduate at the end of the summer with a degree in
theater.

But to the federal government, Anne is a campus undesirable. In early May,
police caught her with an empty one-hit pipe containing residue from the
marijuana she occasionally smokes, and now she's awaiting trial. The charge
is only misdemeanor drug possession -- but if she's convicted, Anne may
lose her federal Pell Grant, which she depends on to pay for school.

Legislating Under the Influence That's thanks to a new law kicking into
effect July 1, which requires the federal government to deny or delay all
financial aid to students with a drug conviction in the past year.

"Without federal aid, I couldn't go to school," said Anne. "It's just
utterly ridiculous to think that I've worked this long to get here, and now
this new law might blow me out of the water."

Passed into law two years ago, the no-loans-for-stoners provision of the
Higher Education Act is now drawing heavy criticism from many legislators,
activist groups, and educators, who say it will unfairly deprive serious
students of an education and inherently discriminate against minorities and
low-income people.

So far, of the roughly 5 million applications the Education Department has
processed for the 2000-2001 school year, only about 3,200 applicants will
either be refused aid entirely or have it delayed because of a drug
conviction. But some 10 million students apply for federal financial aid
each year; and according to the federal government's own most recent
estimates, some 27 percent of all Americans aged 18 to 25 have used illegal
drugs in the past year. That means the new law could potentially affect
hundreds of thousands, even millions, of students.

"It's indicative of this obsession with being overly punitive with regard
to the use of drugs," says Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., who has introduced
legislation to overturn the loan ban. "You single out drug offenders, so
apparently armed robbery is not as serious an offense."

Critics say the issue is not just one of numbers, but also of basic
fairness. Many students will be penalized for simple bad luck. "It's kind
of just hit-or-miss as far as who gets busted [for drug use]," says Alex
Kreit of Students for Sensible Drug Policy at Hampshire College.

Drug Control or Biowarfare? And because it singles out convicted drug
offenders, many say the loan ban provision will hurt minorities --
particularly blacks -- the most. African Americans constitute 59 percent of
those convicted of drug offenses, even though African Americans and whites
have about the same rate of drug use, according to the Leadership
Conference on Civil Rights.

In addition, critics say, the law discriminates against poor people, since
they are obviously most in need of financial aid.

"Wealthier kids are more likely to have adequate counsel in court, and
they're more likely to get a better plea deal," says Adam Smith, associate
director of the Drug Reform Coordination Network. "Even if they do end up
with a drug conviction, they're not going to be dependent on financial aid
to get their education anyway."

Angela Flood, a spokesperson for Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., who sponsored
the legislation, said the provision will help ensure a healthier learning
environment. "[Financial aid] is a privilege, not a right," she said.

Flood also pointed to a provision that exempts drug offenders from the loan
provision if they've completed an "acceptable drug rehabilitation program."
But critics say that since the law will mostly affect minor drug offenders,
requiring that they attend often-costly rehab programs to get financial
assistance is unfair in itself.

Aside from the ethical issues it raises, the provision is proving to be an
administrative migraine. Students are supposed to confess to their drug use
in question 28 of the federal student aid application form. But that
question was left blank on about 20 percent of the first wave of
applications -- not because applicants were dodging the question but simply
because many didn't understand it, according to Karen Freeman,
communications director for Student Financial Assistance. Initially, the
page-long "worksheet" (since amended) was worded in such bewildering
language that only someone on serious drugs could've hoped to make sense of
it. To avoid bottlenecking the system, the department processed the
incomplete forms without penalizing any applicants.

An even greater problem officials face is how to tell whether those who do
answer question 28 are telling the truth. There is no national database of
drug convictions. "It is difficult to enforce," admits Freeman. "Is it
really worth slowing down the system for the millions of applicants who
have absolutely no business with a drug offense to find the very small
percentage who are lying?"

Still, Freeman says that students who lie on their aid forms do stand a
chance of being caught -- a crime that can bring up to a $10,000 fine or
imprisonment.

Last year, Rep. Frank introduced a bill to repeal the loan-ban provision.
But, despite several on-campus rallies supporting the bill, it appears
doomed, according to several members of the Education and Workforce
Committee, where it now sits. "My colleagues are terrified of being accused
of being soft on drugs," Frank said. "I think this is one area where the
public is way ahead of them."

Assuming Frank's bill does die, dedicated students such as Anne will simply
have to hope for the best.

"It's not like I'm a violent criminal or anything," Anne says. "I'm not out
on the streets raping and killing people. All I want is to get through
these last three months and get my degree."