Pubdate: Sun, 18 Sep 2005
Source: Providence Journal, The (RI)
http://www.projo.com/opinion/columnists/content/projo-20050918-18harr.3354dde.html
Copyright: 2005 The Providence Journal Company
Contact:  http://www.projo.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/352
Author: Froma Harrop

DRUG WAR AND CLASS WAR

DURING the 2000 presidential campaign, George W. Bush was asked 
whether he had ever tried cocaine. His answer was that he hadn't used 
drugs for 25 years. I take that as a "Yes."

That same year, Lincoln Chafee was running for the U.S. Senate from 
Rhode Island and was asked the same question. He gave a more 
forthright response, admitting that he had sniffed coke while a 
student at Brown University.

Possession of cocaine, a felony, did not interfere with either 
politician's Ivy League education. Nor did it stop them from seeking 
and attaining high public office. Today, taxpayers cover both men's 
salaries and health-care costs, and will eventually provide their 
government pensions. All, apparently, is forgiven.

But when some low-income kid gets convicted of smoking a joint (a 
misdemeanor), America gathers up its moral indignation and strips him 
of his federal student loan. This is a sick double standard, and it 
will continue unless changes are made in the Higher Education Act.

Congress is now reauthorizing the 40-year-old law, which was created 
to help students pay for college. The aid comes in the form of 
grants, student loans and work-study programs. In 1998, Congress 
added the Drug Provision, which bars students ever convicted of the 
sale or possession of illegal drugs from participating in the program.

There's an effort in Congress to lessen the Drug Provision's burden 
on poor and working-class students. But anything less than its total 
elimination tramples the American ideal of equal opportunity.

As things now stand, police swoop down on some college party and drag 
off the pot-smoking kids. Come the next semester, rich daddies write 
the usual checks, and the children of doctors, lawyers and U.S. 
presidents are back in class. Poor and working-class students go 
home. So far, 175,000 young people have lost federal student aid 
because of the Drug Provision.

The whole War on Drugs is a lesson in class discrimination. "A ton of 
drugs are taken by middle-class kids," says Tom Angell, a director of 
Students for Sensible Drug Policy. "Middle- and upper-class people 
often don't get caught. And they can afford good lawyers to avoid a 
conviction in the first place."

A possible case in point is Mitchell Daniels, Republican governor of 
Indiana. As a student at Princeton, Daniels was charged with the 
possession not only of marijuana, but also of LSD. He was never 
actually convicted, but did plead guilty to a disorderly-conduct 
charge for smoking pot. He paid a fine, and his studies continued.

During the campaign for Indiana governor, Daniels's rival, Democratic 
incumbent Joe Kernan, admitted to smoking pot while in his 20s. And 
so it goes. These examples barely scratch the surface on the 
histories of illicit drug use by our political leaders.

The "war" is also racist. Seventy-two percent of all drug users are 
non-Hispanic whites, according to government numbers. Blacks account 
for only 13 percent of the population and 15 percent of the 
illicit-drug users. But they are 57 percent of the inmates doing time 
in state prisons for drug offenses.

The Drug Provision was the handiwork of Rep. Mark Souder, an Indiana 
Republican. Its intention was to deter young people from taking 
drugs. In practice, it deters poor people from getting a college 
education. Would someone please explain how denying poor kids the 
money for college is going to save them?

The House version of the revised Higher Education Act leaves the drug 
question on the financial-aid application, but removes punishment for 
drug convictions before college. In other words, high-school students 
caught smoking pot in a park would no longer have their futures 
ruined. But that would still happen if a student is convicted while 
in college and receiving assistance.

In the Senate bill, students would not be grilled about convictions 
for possessing drugs, either in high school or while getting aid. But 
they would nevertheless be asked about convictions for selling drugs.

Here's the War on Drugs in action. Without shame, the political 
elites hunt for ways to make examples of lower-income people for 
doing what they did. Given the society-wide use of illegal substances 
and uneven application of drug laws, singling out poor students for 
special punishment is, excuse the expression, hypocrisy on speed.