FEDERAL DRUG PROVISION ILLOGICAL, RESTRICTS EDUCATION FROM THOSE WHO NEED
IT.

It's a shame UA students have not been more vocal about the hypocrisy
of the Higher Education Act Drug Provision. It effectively prevents
anyone with a drug conviction from receiving financial aid. In theory,
you could be a rapist, arsonist or murderer and still get a degree.
But if you're caught with illegal drugs, you are somehow unworthy of a
college education.

Does that make sense to anyone else? If it does, I challenge him to
explain it to me. Explain, for instance, how someone smoking a joint
is more of a threat than someone trying to rape and kill you. One
might argue that drug use creates situations in which people are prone
to violence. Yeah, well, so do hockey games. And redneck bars.

People have told me drugs ruin lives. If that's true, then how is
denying someone an education by putting him in jail supposed to make
his quality of life better? Drug laws ruin lives because they are
unnecessarily cruel. In Alabama, mandatory minimum sentencing for drug
convictions keeps drug users in jail longer than convicted sex
offenders. Something is seriously wrong here.

We shouldn't advocate drug use any more than we should encourage
people to be violent felons. But as long as this disparity in
sentencing exists in our state and others, we will never be safe. Even
if we locked every drug offender in prison for life, there would still
be violent crime. Using methods of deterrence like suspension of
financial aid and prison time is not the answer.

The answer is organization and education. College students know that
as long as there is a demand for something, there is always a supply.
Anyone out there recall learning about Prohibition? It was illegal to
consume alcohol in this country. Did that stop anyone from getting
plowed on his ass if he wanted? Or to look at it another way, does
banning alcohol from Bryant-Denny Stadium keep people from duct-taping
a Flexi-Flask to their crotches?

Hell, no. And as long as there are things out there that will alter
our states of mind, we will have to deal with them in a fair and
effective way. Substance abuse is a health problem. The only way to
combat it is through education, not by taking the opportunity for an
education away. The Drug Enforcement Administration should be replaced
by health professionals and social workers who understand the painful
cycle of addiction on a level that does not involve metal cuffs.

Soon U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., will introduce legislation that
does away with the hypocritical Higher Education Act Drug Provision.
It's a necessary step in the right direction, and it could help to end
the drug war. At the very least, it will restore some sense of social
justice in this country by allowing the people to move ahead by
getting a college degree instead of keeping them subdued because of a
social taboo.

We should encourage U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., to support
Kennedy and help make our state and others a better place to live.
Students can write Sessions at 335 Russell Senate Office Building,
Washington, D.C. 20510-0104 or e-mail him at senator@sessions.senate.gov.
Let's let our senator know that UA students support sensible drug policies.

Dan Whisenhunt is a senior in the College of Communication and
Information Sciences.