STUDENTS AGAINST DRUG WAR

ACLU Helps the Fight With the Students for Sensible Drug Policy

Students for Sensible Drug Policy are working to overturn the HEA Aid
Elimination Penalty, a law that states students convicted of drug
offenses automatically lose their financial aid.

"We have been working to overturn this policy since it was passed in
1998," Tom Angell, campaigns director for SSDP, said.

In February, SSDP and the American Civil Liberties Union were able to
force congress to scale back the policy. It was changed so students
who were convicted of the crime in college would lose their aid, but
if convicted before college, students would still be eligible to
receive aid.

"This is first time in a decade that Congress has scaled back," Angell
said. "It is because of the work of students all around the country."

Julie Rice Mallette, associate vice provost and director of
scholarships and financial aid, said the University doesn't have many
students who run into this roadblock and the law has little impact on
students.

"It is my personal opinion that it seems unfair to tie free financial
aid to such a condition when people who are convicted of other crimes
are not affected, such as drinking and driving or murder," she said.
"But we do still have to live within the conditions and stay with the
guidelines."

Kyle Benton, a member of the ACLU chapter for the University and a
senior in mechanical engineering, agreed.

"What is most ridiculous about the Aid Elimination Provision is that
only drug crimes affect a student's eligibility. No other crime,
including murder, has an effect," Benton said.

This law has stripped the financial aid away from 200,000 convicted
students, keeping some of those affected out of school.

"For too long, the drug war has been waged supposedly to protect young
people," Kris Krane, SSDP's executive director said during a public
announcement. "But we know firsthand that these punitive policies hurt
us instead of help us."

The SSPD Web site says nationally, 0.25 percent of applicants for
financial aid are denied aid due to drug convictions. In North
Carolina, 0.28 percent of applicants are denied aid because of drug
convictions, which is higher than the national average.

In March, the SSDP challenged the constitutionality of the policy and
filed a class action lawsuit. It said that it violates the Fifth
Amendment by punishing people twice for the same offense and violated
the equal protection guarantee by "irrationally designating a class of
people, those with drug convictions, as unworthy of educational aid."

"We will continue to pressure to try to get rid of this law," Angell
said. "We hope to get rid of the policy sooner than later."

About 80 campuses are involved with the campaign across the country,
both in high school and college.

"It's up to students to fight back against this. If we don't, nobody
else will," Angell said. "This law directly targets our generation. If
we don't do anything about it, it will just remain in the books."

The SSDP is hosting an international conference and congressional
lobby day in Washington, D.C., in November. Hundreds of students are
expected to attend the event.

"Young people have had it with the war on drugs," Krane
said.

The SSDP Web site said students across the country are working to get
rid of harsh drug punishments and instead enact sensible policies on
their campuses.

The Campus Change Campaign is the group the SSDP created for students
to take the lead and create alternative drug policies on campus.

There is an N.C. State chapter of the ACLU, but not an SSDP
chapter.

"Unfortunately, I don't know of any N.C. State chapter of SSDP, but if
there is we will definitely join forces and try to write a Student
Government bill against the HEA," Benton said.