CAMPUS ACTIVISTS HIT LAW STRIPPING AID FROM DRUG OFFENDERS

DURHAM - Steven Diamond is no champion of drug abuse. Still, the outspoken
University of New Hampshire senior is bothered by a new law that strips
federal education dollars from college students convicted of doing drugs.
''I'm not saying people should do drugs,'' said Diamond, a member of New
Hampshire Youth Mobilization, a campus group focusing on social justice
issues. It's just that taking away a student's aid money isn't the answer,
he argued. A provision of the Higher Education Act of 1998 is provoking
anger among some New Hampshire student activists who say it is punitive and
discriminates against less affluent students.

The law denies or delays federal education grant, loan or subsidized job
opportunities for any student convicted of owning or selling drugs under
federal or state law.

The measure, signed into law last fall, is touted by politicians as a way
to get tough on drugs. Federal Department of Education enforcement
guidelines are expected later this month.

But campus critics here contend that it is misguided. And a
Washington-based group organizing students across the country to lobby
Congress for its repeal charges that it turns the nation's drug war into
''a war on student access to higher education.'' ''We're enforcing the drug
war against the poor,'' objects Adam Smith, associate director of the Drug
Reform Coordination Network. UNH sophomore Alice Crocker is state student
coordinator of Amnesty International, which has six college and 14 high
school groups across New Hampshire. ''I'm a `straight-edge' and I don't
think anyone needs to take in any foreign substance into their body,'' said
Crocker, using slang to describe someone who does not use drugs or alcohol.

Careful not to judge her peers, Crocker said: ''Abusing drugs is a sympton
of feeling alienated and not understanding yourself, and taking away money
is not the solution. The solution is raising kids to understand themselves.
All this punishment doesn't focus on the problem. It focuses on making kids
pay.'' Diamond accuses some politicians of forgetting their own youthful
drug indiscretions. ''Some of the same people who made these laws - Newt
Gingrich, Bill Clinton, multiple key politicians - have already smoked pot
themselves,'' Diamond said. ''Now they want to take away your financial aid
so you can't get an education ... It's really hypocritical.'' Just how long
the new law deprives a student of federal education money depends on the
offense: one year for first-time drug possession, two years for the
second-time drug possession or first-time drug sale, and indefinitely from
then on. A student can apply for money back earlier by going through a drug
rehabilitation program and two random drug tests over six months.

But critics say that is too time-consuming and fails to take into account
the lack of publicly funded treatment programs, again penalizing students
who are not affluent. They also say the new measure doesn't look at
circumstances surrounding the offense or even what drug was involved.
National statistics show that more than half of high school seniors admit
to having used some sort of controlled substance at one time. ''That's a
problem we're concerned about,'' said Adam Smith. ''But we don't believe
putting obstacles in the way to college is the way to deal with it.''
Marijuana remains the drug of choice among the young, he said. ''The
overwhelming majority of young people convicted of drug offenses are found
guilty of simple drug possession. Our answer as a society is we'll make it
more difficult for young people to educate themselves? And because aid is
need-based, the penalty will only apply to poor and moderate-income
students.'' Another issue is whether the punishment fits the crime. While
some students need drug treatment, Smith said that, for many, ''marijuana
possession doesn't mean you need drug treatment any more than an
18-year-old caught with a beer means they're alcoholic.'' Lisa Harrison, a
spokeswoman for Senator Bob Smith, points out that the Higher Education Act
won near unanimous approval in the Senate because its main thrust was ''to
increase higher education funding.'' ''The reason Senator Smith supported
the bill is it lowered the student loan rate, increased Pell grants,
creates a loan-forgiveness program for students who obtain work in the
child-care industry or gain teaching jobs in school districts that serve
low-income children, and increased the work-study program,'' she said.

But because the senator favors ''a strong antidrug message,'' Harrison said
''this provision is certainly one facet of [the higher education act] which
he believes will help get drug use and drug abuse under control.'' Not all
New Hampshire college students are up in arms about the new law. A brief
check at Dartmouth College, for example, yielded no student activists
willing to make public statements about the issue.

And UNH sophomore Fred Thornton, student senator for Tau Kappa Epsilon,
applauds the measure as ''an attempt to curtail the rising drug problem in
the country.'' ''If you're doing drugs, you're not in a situation where you
can really learn,'' said Thornton, a member of the university's Drug
Advisory Council. ''You need to take time off and find a solution to your
problems.'' And realistically, the new law may not affect many students.
For example at UNH, there were 36 arrests for drug possession in 1997, said
Bill Fischer, UNH associate director of student life. In 1996, the figure
was 31. ''We're looking at a relatively small number in relation to a
student population of roughly 10,000,'' said Fischer, who runs the UNH
Judicial Programs Office.

But while the university has a ''zero tolerance'' policy for drug use, most
typical first drug possession offenses do not block students from pursuing
their education.

Fischer said a typical first-time sanction for drug possession in a
residence hall could be eviction from the dorms and disciplinary probation,
plus a referral to health services. A subsequent offense would most likely
lead to separation from the university for a period of time, he said.
Critics say the new law is another story.

One UNH student said she got a close look at US drug policies a while back
when a friend was denied a federally funded environmental job in New
Hampshire because of a past drug offense.

''I think it unfairly discriminates against people who might have had
problems when they were younger,'' said the student, who did not want to be
identified. ''It's a stage. This is obviously a time in most people's lives
when they experiment ... Most college students should be taken off campus
to a halfway house for their alcohol problem.'' For Diamond, the issue
brings to mind famed children's activist Marian Wright Edelman, founder of
the Children's Defense Fund. At a rally for the nation's children several
years ago, Edelman told a huge crowd: ''Some of our children are tracked
for Princeton and Yale, and some of our children are tracked for prison and
jail.''