APPLAUD SOUDER'S EFFORTS TO FIGHT ILLEGAL DRUG USE

The recent verbal attack on Rep. Mark Souder by the so-called Students for
Sensible Drug Policy who traveled from Indiana, Illinois and Washington,
D.C., to Fort Wayne was as senseless as is illegal drug use.

As a 24-year veteran in the effort to educate parents, students, teachers
and voters about the damage done by marijuana and other drugs, I have
encountered pro-drug legalization organizations all across America.
Legalization groups operate under names like the Drug Policy Foundation,
Drug Policy Alliance, Lindesmith Center, Marijuana Policy Project and The
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). Two former
congressmen, one Republican and one Democrat, after an investigation called
NORML the militant organizational arm of the drug culture supported by the
drug culture magazines, the drug paraphernalia industry and, to a certain
extent, even the traffickers.

We have watched the evolution of Students for Sensible Drug Policy from
groups that promote legalization and that operate under various titles but
share many of the same members. Students are invited to conferences at
various universities to "discuss legislation prohibiting student loans to
those convicted of drug offenses." It appears that the young people are
then recruited into the legalization movement.

As far as continuing to shadow the congressman, Carolyn Lunman, an SSDP
member from George Washington University, Washington, D.C. said, "He'd
better watch his back."

At its Web site (www.drcnet.org, Issue No. 226), SSDP threatens to "keep an
eye on Souder's events calendar and will be developing a strategy to have a
greater presence in Souder's district." This fringe group claims only 2,000
votes can defeat Souder. His defeat would be a tremendous loss to the drug
fight.

If you wonder how students finance their participation and air travel to
these various conferences or meetings to harass elected officials who, in
Souder's case, have the interest of both the kids and his constituents at
heart, visit their pro-drug Web site.

Students for Sensible Drug Policy is a militant fringe of the drug
legalization movement. As parents, we would treat membership in SSDP as
firmly as we would treat drug use. Stop the behavior and resign from the
group or pay your own tuition.

Souder has been targeted by the legalizers specifically because he has been
doing the right thing - making every effort to curb drug use in America. He
is highly respected by those of us who have been in the trenches for years.
He is highly respected by those congressmen and women on both sides of the
political aisle who have banded together to target drugs at the national
level. Souder was selected by his peers to co-chair the Speaker's Task
Force for a Drug-Free America.

The very bill that these "Sensible Students" are complaining about
prohibits any student with an illegal drug conviction from receiving a
federally subsidized student loan, unless the student passes two drug tests
and undergoes drug treatment. If the student tests clean and goes through a
drug rehabilitation program, the student could re- qualify for federal
student aid.

It is shocking that anyone would object to this common-sense legislation,
which serves two purposes - to keep drug dealers and drug addicts off our
campuses, where they are known to contribute to crime and the drop-out
rate, and ensure that federal dollars for student aid go only to the
deserving, not to those who break the law.

Moreover, it gives families leverage to prevent or stop their children's
drug use. At a recent meeting with parents whose sons and daughters died of
overdose while at college, the most frequently heard statement was, "If
your child is already involved in illegal drugs, don't send him off to
college. It's like an open-air drug market and there is no supervision."

We urge Souder's constituents to applaud his efforts and keep sending him
back to Congress. He is one of the select few who is unafraid to stand up
to the drug pushers.

Would you want your child or grandchild to end up in a dorm room with a
non-rehabilitated drug criminal? Thanks, Congressman Souder, for making our
colleges safer, and for protecting our campuses against the scourge of drugs.