EDUCATION LAW CITED IN PRO-MARIJUANA CAMPAIGN

Federal education law, of all things, was a key selling point for
Columbia, Mo., residents who voted to relax the penalties for people
caught with a small amount of marijuana.

Dan Viets, a Columbia defense attorney who helped put the issue on
last November's ballot, said supporters spent a lot of time telling
voters about a provision in the federal Higher Education Act.

The provision prohibits anyone who has been convicted of drug
possession in a federal or state court from receiving federal student
aid for a one-year period, though that can be waived if the individual
goes through an approved treatment program. By having all cases go
through municipal court, which the Columbia ordinance requires, the
federal provision isn't triggered.

"I think people began thinking about what is the point of kicking
people out of college?" Viets said. "That is the dumbest thing I have
heard Congress do recently. How does it help anybody to deprive them
of the ability to advance their education?"

Viets said it was hard to determine how many students in Columbia were
affected by the provision. Supporters of the law change have said that
160,000 people nationally have been denied aid since the provision
took effect in 2000. They also point out that the sum doesn't include
the unknown number of people who never apply because they know they
will be denied.

A check with Kansas University officials found that the number of
people denied in Lawrence is very small. Todd Cohen, a KU spokesman,
said that during the last year 18,498 people submitted an application
for federal student aid. Three of those people admitted on their
application that they had been convicted of a drug crime. Cohen said
that, of the three, two were eligible because they had taken the
required rehabilitation program.

Randy Boehm, Columbia police chief, said he expected the situation was
similar in Columbia. But, he said, the supporters of the law changes
- - who received $50,000 from the Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana
Policy Project to help provide public education during the campaign -
did a good job of making that a hot-button issue.

"Quite frankly, the proponents ran a pretty smart campaign," Boehm
said. "They were able to successfully focus on a couple of pretty
minor issues."