cannabisnews.com: Financial Aid Bill Needs Revision Financial Aid Bill Needs Revision Posted by FoM on November 21, 2001 at 09:31:17 PT By Kate Burkart-Paulson Source: Daily Cardinal Passed in 1998, the Drug Provision of the Higher Education Act limits students convicted of the possession or sale of a "controlled substance" from receiving federal financial aid for a specified period of time unless they participate in rehab. The provision only applies to students who admit such a conviction on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Though the provision itself is only about 250 words long and appears relatively harmless, it has had great repercussions. Student groups across the country are springing up in opposition, and the bill to eliminate the provision from the HEA already has 55 sponsors in the House of Representatives, including U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis. This negative reaction is completely justified, as the problems with the provision far outweigh the benefits.First, by retroactively punishing students with drug offenses, the provision limits the opportunity for students to attend college. Instead of affecting current college students, as was intended by the provision's sponsor, Mark Souder, R-Ind., it hurts those applying for financial aid in the first place. For example, if a high school student is twice convicted of selling a controlled substance, he or she cannot receive federal financial aid for college for an "indefinite" period of time—essentially never—without participating in rehab. Such students wishing to turn their lives around are inhibited from receiving financial aid and thus deterred from attending college. Furthermore, the provision unacceptably punishes students twice for the same mistake—once when originally convicted and again when applying for aid.However, the provision's most serious flaw lies in what it does not address. While preventing students with minor (and major) drug offenses from receiving financial aid, it does nothing about those with more serious criminal offenses. Students convicted of robbery, rape or violent offenses are still eligible, while students convicted only once of drug possession are inhibited from receiving financial aid. Though drug abuse is a serious issue, it is by no means the only problem needing and deserving attention.However, eliminating the Drug Provision completely is not the answer, as most student groups across the country believe, including the branch of Students for a Sensible Drug Policy here at UW-Madison. Instead, the provision needs to be revised to exclude its current retroactive nature and to include all serious crimes.By allowing students entering college to receive aid, those students wishing to better their education, and by extension their lives, will have a better chance to do so. The adjustment will also eliminate the problem of being punished for one mistake twice.Because the federal government should not support students with serious offenses, it should categorize criminal offenses to dole out different lengths of federal aid exclusion for students already in college. As the most important revision correcting the most serious problem, this would expand the effects of the provision to all those convicted of crimes instead of unfairly isolating drug offenders.Though no similar bill is currently in Congress, for now, nothing is better than something. The current provision is unfair and discourages many struggling students from aspiring to a college education. Though many may argue that it's the best thing around, it has too many problems and should be repealed.Kate Burkart-Paulson is a senior majoring in economics. She is the opinion editor of The Daily Cardinal. Source: Daily Cardinal (WI Edu)Author: Kate Burkart-PaulsonPublished: November 20, 2001Copyright: 2001 The Daily Cardinal Newspaper CorporationWebsite: http://www.cardinal.wisc.edu/Feedback: http://www.cardinal.wisc.edu/feedback/Related Articles & Web Site:Students for Sensible Drug Policyhttp://www.ssdp.org/College Financial Aid Rule Attacked http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11309.shtmlTruth and its Consequences http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10871.shtmlDrugs Trigger Withdrawal of Student Aidhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10733.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #7 posted by FoM on November 21, 2001 at 12:14:18 PT Let's see if this search works http://www.canada.com/search/site/results.asp?keywords=marijuana [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by p4me on November 21, 2001 at 12:03:24 PT: This is the posting in question Comment #12 posted by smedley to the article posted by FoM on Nov. 18 at 21:36PT titled "Mad About Marijuana" was this:FROM http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MedPot/message/237: Quebec Superior Court Justice Jean Pierre Plouffe is ruling tomorrow, Monday Nov 19 2001 at 2pm in Courtroom #1 in Hull in the case of R. v. Ray Turmel on whether, because of their unwillingness to let Canada's sickest citizens use medicinal pot, all Canadians are now free to enjoy the sacred herb. All French Canadian TV, especially RDI, and the English Globe and Mail newspaper are the only media sources who have covered it so far and should be your best bet first. We should all be pretty unavailable for awhile should we win. IMAGINE!!! smedleyI thought it was the Supreme Court he was talking about. My mistake. [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by mayan on November 21, 2001 at 11:48:32 PT also... go to canada.com & search "raymond turmel",there is an article today regarding the subpoena of Allen Rock in this case. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by mayan on November 21, 2001 at 11:42:51 PT try this one... http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1947/a10.html?1720 [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by mayan on November 21, 2001 at 11:33:13 PT p4me... Is this it? http://www.canada.com/search/site/story.asp?id=D075E5D6-C1EE-4B04-9059-F0317D146AA8 [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by p4me on November 21, 2001 at 10:48:08 PT: more brilliance from Congress They forgot to exclude minors that consumed tobacco before they were 18. They also need to raid all Octoberfest and Springfest activities on college campuses and hunt down all the college kids drinking alcohol before they are 21. They should revoke their student loans and make them pay the loans back at a higher interest as a penalty. Of course they should arrest the tobacco and alcohol violators and charge them as felons for breaking substance-abuse laws. Like that is going to happen.Whatever happened to the Canadain Supreme Court's ruling that was to come yesterday at 2PM. Someone posted that here on Monday but I checked the Ottawa Citizen and other sites and found nothing. Anyone heard anything or is this just false? [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by mayan on November 21, 2001 at 10:11:21 PT Sorry... When I first saw this headline I laughed because,I mean, gee...uh...ya think Gus? This financial aid bill needs revision? Then I thought about all of the young people who will struggle to get a college education because of it. Now I'm not laughing. Souder is incompetent. The future pays. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment