Pubdate: Thu, 03 Feb 2005
Source: Daily Egyptian (IL Edu)
Copyright: 2005 Daily Egyptian
Contact:  http://www.dailyegyptian.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/779
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/dare.htm (D.A.R.E.)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

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.
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MAP posted-by: Beth