HIGH CRIMES

Imagine you are caught smoking pot in Washington Square Park. You might
expect to have your reefer confiscated or have the cops haul you down to the
local precinct. But the last thing you'd anticipate is that you would not be
going to school in the fall.

On October 7, 1998, President Clinton signed into law the Higher Education
Act, first created in 1965 to establish student financial assistance, and
re-authorized every six years. Buried in the legislation is an amendment
that links drug conviction to federal aid eligibility.

H.R. 6 orders the loss of federal financial aid for convictions of any state
or federal drug offense, including possession of marijuana or any other
controlled substance. The suspension of aid ranges from one year to
indefinite, depending upon the number and type of conviction. Possession
entails staggered degrees of ineligibility: the first offense is one year,
the second two years, the third an indefinite period of time.

Once this provision was made into law, Congress handed it over to the
Department of Education, which is responsible for generating the rules to
enforce it. Although this provision will not be effective until July 1,
2000, drug convictions in the interim will hurt a student's chance of
receiving federally funded work-study money, grants, and loans.

Time could be on your side. If a year has passed from the date of conviction
by the time the 2000AD2001 financial aid forms are filled out, eligibility
will not be jeopardized. This is only true for first-time offenders who are
caught for possession and not dealing. But if a year has not passed, you may
lose aid. The stakes are even higher for dealing: aid is out the door for
two years after the first conviction, and the second disqualifies you
indefinitely.

Aside from waiting out one's suspension period, the measure stipulates that
a student's only opportunity to regain qualification for aid is to complete
a treatment program. However, the Department of Education will not publish
acceptable terms for these programs until November 18Band treatment
programs completed before that date, even if they happen to match the
department's terms, will not comply with regulations.

Although its prime sponsor in Congress claims that campus drug arrests pose
a problem nationwide, political organizers like Aaron Wilson8Bformerly with
the New YorkADbased nonprofit Partnership for Responsible Drug
Information8Bspeculate the provision's consequences will be patchy,
depending on where one lives, and his or her race and class. A repeal
campaign against the provision has already been mounted by Representative
Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat, and the number of concerned students
and drug reformers is growing.

The idea of tying a student's financial aid to their drug rap sheet started
with a New Yorker from Glens Falls. Now-retired Republican congressman
Gerald Solomon first authored the provision suggesting this connection, and
although his amendment passed the House and Senate, the language was
ultimately stripped from 1992's Higher Education Act reauthorization. Mark
Souder, a Republican representative from Indiana, embraced Solomon's vision,
and H.R. 6 sailed through Congress, passing by a voice vote of 414 to 4.
"The relaxation of attitudes regarding drug abuse has made it easier for the
peddlers of this poison to devastate families and ruin lives," Souder
opines. Noting that his legislation "seems to stick in the craw" of special
interest groups, he condemns organizations who have spoken out against the
provision, declaring their "primary goal can only be the legalization of
drugs."

It isn't easy in this political climate to denounce legislation favoring a
zero-tolerance stance. Cyndy Littlefield, a Washington lobbyist, explains
that "no one wanted to speak out" against the provision. Few politicians
were willing to go on the record against the provision. Calling Souder's
amendment too "onerous and burdensome to surmount," she believes that
members decided it was better to let the provision pass than to initiate the
complicated process of defeating a measure.

Souder touts the political benefits of his legislation: "Taxpayers have a
right to know that students who have a drug abuse problem aren't using tax
dollars to go through school." He proclaims, "Any time you go into the
public treasury, the public has a right to hold you accountable." To prove
Souder's point, his office cites statistics published by The Chronicle of
Higher Education. In a survey of 489 of the largest colleges and
universities, drug arrests jumped almost 18 percent since 1995. Souder makes
a point of saying, "Those are only the students who get caught."

Enforcing student accountability may prove difficult. What student would
actually admit their drug use on a financial aid form, especially if it
means forfeiting a year or more of education? Federal financial aid
applications for the 2000-2001 school year will be the first time questions
about student drug offenses will appear and may be reported to schools.

The Department of Ed has posted on the Web a draft of the financial aid
form, which contains the following new question, #28: "If you have never
been convicted of any illegal drug offense, enter '1' in the box and go to
question 29." (If you have been convicted, there is a number to call and a
Web site to visit for more information.) Verification of a student's past
offenses is not an easy process, as no central database yet exists for
facilitating this background check.

The perils of self-reporting constitute a double-edged sword. The honest
option may derail a person's life, stalling their plans for education. The
dishonest approach, while unlikely to be discovered, raises the
disheartening possibility of legal action: "If you purposely give false or
misleading information, you may be fined $10,000, sent to prison, or both."

Activists worry about who will be affected. Middle- and low-income students
will be required to enter a social contract with their government that their
wealthier peers can ignore. The Drug Reform Coordination Network (DRCNet)
further feels that Souder's legislation will have a racially discriminatory
effect because drug law enforcement is heavily focused on minority
communities. And others, like Wilson, are attentive to geographical
differences. "In California, people will not feel the effects of this law,"
he says, pointing to the fact that in New York City, people are more
frequently busted for low-level marijuana offenses. "They don't have a Rudy
Giuliani."

The proposed regs are available for public comment through
http://www.ifap.ed.gov/csb_html/fedlreg.htm until September 14, after which
the Department of Ed will vote on the final product. This first glimpse into
the possible parameters of H.R. 6 highlights how disproportionately people
will be impacted. Those who have sufficient money to enter a private program
will have an advantage. And in New York City, a student caught smoking pot
seems the least likely candidate for coveted treatment programs. "Drug
treatment facilities are overwhelmed with cocaine and heroin addicts with
real drug problems," Wilson emphasizes, noting many casualties of H.R. 6 may
not have a history of drug abuse. "Every morning there are huge lines of
people at Beth Israel and most of them will not get in."

Although many students are still in the dark about H.R. 6, those who know
about it are intent on publicizing its potentially dire consequences. Next
fall at Columbia University, Gerard Honig plans to distribute a few thousand
pamphlets detailing H.R. 6 on campus. Honig, a native New Yorker, has known
Columbia students convicted of drug offenses. He also wants to organize a
public panel discussion featuring financial aid officers and lawyers savvy
to New York's criminal code. "I'm very confused about how this is going to
play out," says Honig, 20. "Large numbers of students will just not be able
to come back to school." Georgian resident Lauren Andrews, 19, who will be a
sophomore in the fall, is transferring to New York University "to do
photography and drug reform." Calling Souder's legislation "asinine," she
asserts that "it is ignorance that's going to keep someone on
drugs...education is the only effective tool against drug abuse."

Campus efforts may help Barney Frank, whose bill, H.R. 1053, aims to repeal
the drug conviction provision. Frank points out the provision's
redundancy-prior to the revision in law, sentencing courts already had the
power to take away federal financial aid from convicted drug felons at their
discretion. Frank's bill currently has 19 cosponsors in the House, the
support of several national organizations, and official endorsements from 12
student governments. And as July 1, 2000, looms, students are planning
organizing and awareness efforts around the provision. There is an online
petition at http://www.raiseyourvoice.com.

Calling Souder's amendment "a backwards way" to conquer America's drug
problem, Andrews adds, "By preventing people from getting an education,
they're telling you to be screwed up more. They are not helping you get off
drugs."

Tell us what you think. editor@villagevoice.com