STUDENT GROUPS AIM TO LESSEN DRUG PENALTIES

In the wake of legal challenges to a statute that denies federal
financial aid to students with drug convictions, groups across higher
education are pressing for a reevaluation of universities' responses
to marijuana-related offenses.

These groups, which range in name from Safer Alternatives for
Enjoyable Recreation to Students for Sensible Drug Policy, have taken
aim at the way in which colleges deal with students caught using marijuana.

The main criticism offered by these groups is directed at the fact
that marijuana-related incidents often prompt police involvement and
parental notification -- which doesn't happen at many of these schools
for alcohol-related offenses. They also contend that alcohol and
controlled substances should both be governed with the goal of
preventing injury, not preventing use.

Stephanie Ives of the Office of the Vice Provost for University Life,
however, contends that the response of an institution to a drug crime
is generally not something it has a great deal of control over.

"You can't create additional policies about drugs because the law sort
of trumps all," said Ives, who is in charge of crafting the
University's alcohol policy. "You can talk about how to create a
healthier environment with alcohol because it's a legal substance. You
can't do the same thing with drugs."

That distinction is precisely what many opponents of this approach are
taking aim at.

"It doesn't come down to drugs and alcohol being 'punished equally,' "
said Dan MacCombie, president of Brown University's chapter of
Students for Sensible Drug Policy. Instead, he argues, the goal should
be "harm reduction" and the appropriate response "should be to prevent
individuals who choose to use drugs from harming others, as well as to
ensure that they are not taking unreasonable risks to their health."

According to the Office of Student Conduct, both drug- and
alcohol-related offenses can involve arrest, and the number of arrests
for each are comparable. OSC also said that because their proceedings
are confidential, no incident, even one involving drugs, would
automatically prompt notification of a student's parents and that a
note on the student's permanent record would only be made if
probation, suspension or expulsion were ordered.

Some schools go much further, kicking students out of on-campus
housing, for example, if the student acquires a drug conviction. And
all convictions result in ineligibility for federal student aid.

SSDP and another group have filed a challenge to the 1998 Higher
Education Act, which prohibits students with drug convictions from
being granted federal financial aid. The issue, while a problem for
some college students, may not be as pressing at Penn.

"It is basically a non-event here," said Bill Schilling, director of
student financial aid, adding that Penn's policy calls for University
money to cover any federal loans lost due to a drug conviction.

Penn does not have a chapter of SSDP, but Princeton, Cornell, Brown,
Columbia and Duke universities do.

An OSC official also said that if the public were to take a different
view of controlled substances in the future, his institution could as
well. That would depend, though, on how that new view were to be "codified."

MacCombie, for his part, said that the issues for which he advocates
are more about an individual's protection than about choice or
recreation. He also said that his group is, for the most part,
respected within the local community and that his concerns are getting
attention.

"We do, however, get negative stigma from being 'the stoner group,'"
he said.