POT RAP CAN BLOCK FINANCIAL AID

Question No. 31 on the free application for federal financial aid can
be gut-wrenching for some college students. "Have you ever been
convicted of possessing or selling illegal drugs?" the question
reads. A worksheet further explaining the question lets a student
know a conviction counts only if it is in a state or federal court.

If your answer is no, then you're on your way to qualifying for
federal aid. But for students who must say yes because of that time
police found a marijuana joint in their car, the answer hits hard.

A yes to question 31 could mean no federal financial aid. That is one
reason the Lawrence City Commission has spent the past several months
debating a proposed ordinance regarding first-time marijuana
possession. If the ordinance passes when it comes up again next
month, possession cases would be sent to Municipal Court instead of
District Court. This switch, proponents said, would save time and
taxpayer money because the process in Municipal Court runs more
quickly than in District Court. Then comes the main reason for the
ordinance: University of Kansas students caught the first time with
small amounts of pot would not have a state conviction on their record.

That means their federal aid would not be in jeopardy until their
second or third offense, which becomes a felony in District Court.
"If you want people to stop getting stoned all the time, you don't
take their aid away and tell them they can't go to college," said
Lawrence Mayor Boog Highberger. "That doesn't fit well to me."

Others, said offenders should pay the price, even if it meant missing
out on financial aid. "Breaking the law is breaking the law, no
matter how silly I think the law is," said Kevin Corcoran, a
19-year-old University of Kansas student from Lawrence.

The move, although done in the name of saving financial aid, is the
latest in what some view as a changing tide of attitudes toward
marijuana. In a Gallup Poll from October, on the question of whether
possession of small amounts of marijuana should be treated as a
criminal offense, 55 percent of respondents said no, up from 46
percent from just two years before. More than a year ago, voters in
Columbia, Mo., passed an initiative that put small-possession
violations in city court but also reduced them to fine-only offenses.
Earlier this month, Rhode Island became the 11th state to allow the
use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. Laws in 12 states have
decriminalized possession of small amounts of pot. In November,
Denver voters legalized small amounts of marijuana.

"What they are doing in Lawrence ... it's what's been done on a
statewide basis in other areas," said Paul Armentano, senior policy
analyst with NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of
Marijuana Laws, out of Washington, D.C.

"The public is becoming more in favor of this issue. Clearly, it
seems to be a worldwide trend." For Lawrence, where prosecutors and
police are behind the switch, the issue is not necessarily a
softening of attitudes about marijuana but a desire to keep
first-time offenders from missing out on financial aid.

That was a key for Laura Green, director of the Drug Policy Forum of
Kansas, when her group led the push for the ordinance several months
ago. "I think people deserve a second chance," Green said.With that
second chance, she also wants people who need help to get it. She
wants the ordinance to include a mandatory evaluation to determine if
those caught with marijuana have a dependency problem.

"The purpose of the ordinance is to get people help if they need it.
Not to just zap their wallets," Green said. "We want a healthy
community, and those who have an unhealthy problem, this is one way
for them to be exposed to treatment."

(c) 2006, The Kansas City Star. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services.