DRUG ABUSE AND STUDENT LOANS

We've seen what happened when banks, under pressure from Congress,
lent money to home buyers who were poor credit risks: Lots of those
buyers are in default, and the mortgage crisis spawned by bad lending
practices helped cause the recession.

But Congress hasn't learned.

Liberals in the House of Representatives now want to start offering
federal financial aid to college students even if they have been
convicted of illegal drug use or possession. Backers of a bill to do
that say helping students go to college could aid their rehabilitation.

But student loans are not a rehabilitation program. They are meant to
help students get through college. That means lending the money to
those students who are most likely to graduate from college and be
able to repay the loans. Which do you think is more apt to graduate:
a student who has obeyed the law and avoided the use of illegal
drugs, or a student who has a drug problem?

Denying federal aid to students who abuse drugs is not about
punishing them. It is about making the most productive use of
taxpayer dollars. Plus, granting student aid to drug abusers reduces
the amount available to law-abiding students, which is unjust. And as
Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., pointed out, keeping the ban on federal
loans to drug users can have a deterrent effect.

"A student who knows that his financial aid could be suspended if
he's convicted of a drug crime will be less likely to use or deal
drugs in the first place," he told McClatchy Newspapers.

Congress should reject the attempt to ease that ban.