DON'T DENY FINANCIAL AID TO DRUG OFFENDERS

Criminalizing popular behavior didn't work during Prohibition, and it
doesn't work now. Denying financial aid to students on the basis of drug
convictions makes even less sense. People who admit to three
drug-possession convictions or two drug-selling convictions, can be made
indefinitely ineligible for all federal financial aid - loans, grants,
work-study dollars and scholarships.

What has this accomplished so far? The United States has the highest
incarceration rate of any nation in the world, but we still have a drug
problem. Mandatory sentencing for drug offenders filled our prisons, but
did nothing to curb drug use. Adding additional penalties for drug users
who have been sentenced and paid their penalties is an implicit admission
to the failure of the war on drugs.

It's also patently unfair. Why should students with drug convictions be
penalized a second time? And why only the lower-income students, who depend
on financial aid to obtain a college education? This bias doesn't speak
well of us as a nation. What are we saying with this policy? Drug use is
acceptable if you're wealthy? Or are we implying only the impoverished use
drugs?

This also ignores a more substantial problem. According to a White House
Web site fact sheet on college drug and alcohol abuse, "Alcohol, of all
substances used, causes the most problems on college campuses." There are
no proposals to deny financial aid to students convicted of driving under
the influence of alcohol, perhaps because we've already been down that road
and found no real political opportunities to be exploited.

The problem doesn't lie in trying to get rid of drug use on campus it's in
developing effective policies to do so and applying them fairly. Targeting
a segment of the population or one type of crime is unfair and it doesn't
solve the problem. Why are we denying financial aid to drug offenders and
allowing it for other convicted criminals? How does this make our campuses
safer? The legislation adopted in 1998 targets only drug offenders. Why
isn't anyone asked if they've committed burglary, rape or vehicular
manslaughter? Aren't we concerned about these crimes, too? Aren't they all
at least as serious as drug use?

It's time to admit we've made a mistake, and consider other courses of
action. The questions about drug convictions should be removed from the
Free Application for Federal Student Aid. They're part of a cause that has
already been lost.