GROUPS SUE FOR FINANCIAL AID FOR DRUG OFFENDERS

Last week, the ACLU and Students for Sensible Drug Policy filed a suit
against the Department of Education because of a federal law they want
overturned. As it stands now, the law states that the government will
stop funding students who are convicted of a drug charge while they
are receiving federal financial aid. The student group and the ACLU,
however, feel that this law is unconstitutional.

How, exactly, is this unconstitutional? How could these people
possibly consider this law unfair?

Students receiving aid know that if they are involved with drugs, they
could lose their funds. And if they still decide to take part in these
illegal activities, then they have absolutely no reason to complain
when their aid is severed. There is nothing unconstitutional about
this. There is nothing unfair about this.

What would be unfair, however, is if the law does get overturned, and
taxpayers' money is used for convicted drug offenders. The government
should not be expected to hand out money to people who do not even
take the country's drug laws seriously.

The groups also say that the law is counterproductive, as students who
are drug offenders have already been punished enough. According to the
Web site insidehighered.com, the lawsuit states that the law
"interferes with the objectives of drug treatment, drug prevention and
criminal rehabilitation by denying a higher education ... to those
convicted."

But the government doesn't have the leisure of assuming that drug
offenders will become rehabilitated. Because if they don't, then the
government may have very well wasted a lot of money on people who
won't make use of it. There are so many law-abiding students out there
that need aid that the Department of Education cannot afford to gamble
their money on people who do not deserve it.

This law is not infringing on anyone's rights, and it's not
unconstitutional. The Students for Sensible Drug Policy and the ACLU
should withdraw their lawsuit before they embarrass themselves more.