Group Rallies to Change Act That Denies Aid to Drug Offenders Damien Nichols meets students almost every day who have been busted on the campus for drug use. Some of them lost their financial aid. Some were kicked out of campus housing. And others were suspended from the university. Nichols is the president of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, a group on the campus representing a national organization and working to confront problems they see in U.S. drug policy. The group recently ordered T-shirts, stickers and pins to help get their message out and to rally against a 1998 amendment to the Higher Education Act, which is up for reconsideration this year in Congress, that prohibits students convicted of drug offenses from receiving federal financial aid. [continues 650 words]
Students Embrace Universal Smoke-Up Day Kumar Patel* is not looking forward to tomorrow. Not because he has class. Not because he has a test. Not even because his parents are coming. But because tomorrow is not today, and today is 4/20, a day of celebration for those who do the doobie. "It's just a bummer 'cause you know you have 364 days until the next one," he said. But for non-smokers, the concept of 4/20 might be slightly cloudy. [continues 888 words]
In Damien Nichols' Nov. 19 guest column, "Pot and policy," Nichols lists all the horrible things that can happen to students caught smoking weed in their dorm rooms. Believing it unjust that students committing illegal acts in their dorm rooms are punished, he proposed changing these "draconian" policies. Nichols does, however, skip over the most obvious and easiest remedy to this perceived problem: Don't smoke weed in your rooms! It seems fairly obvious to me you shouldn't do something if you stand the chance of getting caught, and the result is getting kicked out of the dorms, financial aid revocation and a fine. If you really feel the need to smoke weed, find somewhere off the campus to do it. Bob Salera, Junior Criminology and criminal justice [end]
University Hosts Conference Of Students Fighting Strict Drug Laws WASHINGTON - For one morning, Katie M-Burke ditched her regular tie-dyed T-shirt and jeans for a business suit so she could storm Capitol Hill with dozens of her peers, demanding an end to the drug war. The University of Rhode Island freshman took time off from classes and traveled to Washington for the chance to lobby legislators about the harms of many anti-narcotic laws. She is just one of hundreds of student activists from across the nation who are trying to influence national drug policy while at this university for the annual Students for Sensible Drug Policy conference this weekend. [continues 320 words]
Knock, knock. "Who's there?" "It's the police, and you're in trouble." I hope you weren't expecting a knock-knock joke because this all-too-common scenario at the university isn't funny at all. Whenever resident assistants think they smell marijuana, they're instructed to contact the police without conducting any further investigation or warning students to refrain from smoking. Perhaps this excessive policy is one reason why the university ranks eighth in the nation in arresting its own students for drug violations, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. Too often, police haul away university students in handcuffs for simple possession of marijuana. But being arrested isn't just an one-night inconvenience; it can ruin students' lives. [continues 558 words]
In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Higher Education Act into law. By establishing federal financial aid programs, this act was an attempt to open the doors to a college education to students who might not otherwise have been able to attend. However, in 1998, during the law's congressional reauthorization, Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.) authored a provision that disqualifies applicants based on any prior drug conviction, even non-violent misdemeanors. According to the Department of Education, over 91,000 students to date have had their financial aid fully or partially denied because of the new provision. This makes the HEA Drug Provision the No. 1 legal obstacle to low and middle-income families trying to send their children to college. The law applies a second level of punishment to the students who need extra help to pay for their college education: those from poor and middle-class families. [continues 589 words]
President Jimmy Carter once said, "Penalties against a drug should not be more dangerous to an individual than use of the drug itself ... Nowhere is this more clear than in the laws against possession of marijuana." It would be a hard argument to make that the harms associated with marijuana are greater, or even on par, with those of alcohol. Every weekend, emergency personnel have to deal with someone who partied a little too hard that night. Last year, we had the unfortunate experience of a university student drinking too much alcohol one night, regrettably costing him his life. In contrast, it is virtually impossible to die from a marijuana overdose. Looking at the problems that these two drugs can cause, one would expect the university's policy to reflect these harms. However, it is just the opposite. [continues 604 words]
The Hemp Industry Association and the Drug Enforcement Administration are in a legal battle over the future of hemp food products that could take months to resolve and could result in a ban on all foods that contain any amount of hemp. In October 2001, the DEA issued a statement that clarified the Controlled Substances Act saying the production and distribution of hemp food products are illegal. Increasingly popular hemp clothing and cosmetic products were not outlawed because THC [tetrahydrocannabinol], the psychoactive agent in marijuana, is not ingested. [continues 569 words]
Rave clubgoers are twice as likely to use marijuana, cocaine and other drugs if they currently use ecstasy, according to a recent university study. The study, conducted by the university's Center for Substance Abuse Research, found 89 percent of the 96 club patrons interviewed said they had used methylenedioxy-methamphetamine - more commonly known as ecstasy - at some point in their lives, and 20 percent said they had used ecstasy within two days of the interview. Their reports were confirmed by saliva tests. The study also found that 81 percent of the sample group had used marijuana, and 51 percent had used powdered cocaine. [continues 291 words]
In response to Elizabeth Suh's column, ("This bud's for you, not me," April 19) that intended to avoid the debate about why marijuana users are bad, Suh does just that: make value judgments about those who smoke pot. If her argument is that meaningful connections can only be made while sober, than she is de-legitimizing the experiences of a healthy fraction of our university (and global) population. Perhaps it is hurtful for someone who is drug-free to believe people who use marijuana do have experiences just as valuable and real as those who choose to abstain. The most pressing issue in her column was not that her friend was a pothead, but that he neglected her feelings even when confronted about his exorbitant pot use. Why engage in a relationship in which one's feelings are ignored. [continues 184 words]
In the words of the NOFX song "Herojuana": "Why be sad when happiness can be bought for a little more than free Modern-day prohibition At what age can I choose how to live If God created plants and buds that I find and abuse then who are you to judge me." NOFX captures the sentiments of many marijuana smokers I have encountered: "Marijuana is a plant. Marijuana makes me feel good. Marijuana is natural. What's wrong with it." I don't even want to touch on whether marijuana should be legalized. I don't want to mess with the question of whether it's wrong, either. My issue right now is with how smoking marijuana messes things up. [continues 820 words]
Scholarship Would Skirt Statute That Puts Limits On Financial Aid Students who are denied federal financial aid because of drug convictions are now eligible for a scholarship created by the Drug Reform Coordination Network. The John W. Perry Fund - named after a drug activist and New York police officer killed in the terrorist attacks - is the first of its kind. It subsidizes students who are ineligible for programs like Perkins Loans, PLUS Loans and Work-Study because of a 1998 amendment to the Higher Education Act that does not allow any students convicted of illegal drug use or sale to receive funds. [continues 325 words]
