|
Action
Alert:
Still
Time
to
Contact
Judiciary
Committee
Members
About
HEA
Drug
Provision
9/24/04
Last month, DRCNet sent an
action alert to subscribers living states which have Senators who sit
on the
Judiciary Committee. The alert concerned
the Higher Education Act drug provision, a law that delays or denies
federal
financial aid to students because of drug convictions, and which DRCNet
has worked
since 1998 to repeal. The committee had
initially
scheduled a vote relevant to the issue a few weeks ago.
As often happens in
Congress, the vote has been delayed -- which means there is still time
to
write, fax, call or visit your Senator's office if you haven't already. The vote will take place -- soon -- on a
bill, S. 1860, whose main purpose is to reauthorize the Office of
National Drug
Control Policy. The bill is certain to
pass, and includes as part of it a change to the Higher Education Act
to scale
back the financial aid penalty to only apply to people who were in
school and
receiving aid at the time of their offenses.
This is good, but not good
enough. Please scan the following list
to see if you have a Senator on the Judiciary Committee, and to get his
or her
contact information if so. Then please
call
and/or fax your Senator today to urge that the Higher Education Act's
drug
provision instead be repealed in full.
Alabama: Jeff Sessions
(R-AL), (202) 224-4124, (202) 224-3149
Arizona: Jon Kyl (R),
(202) 224-4521, fax (202) 224-2207
California: Dianne Feinstein (D), (202) 224-3841, fax:
(202) 228-3954
Delaware: Joseph Biden
(D), (202) 224-5042, fax: (202) 224-0139
Georgia: Saxby
Chambliss (R), (202) 224-3521, fax: (202) 224-0103
Idaho: Larry Craig
(R), (202) 224-2752, fax: (202) 228-1067
Illinois: Richard
Durbin (D), (202) 224-2152, fax: (202) 228-0400
Iowa: Charles Grassley (R), (202) 224-3744; fax:
(202) 224-6020
Massachusetts: Edward Kennedy (D), (202) 224-4543, fax:
(202)
224-2417
New York: Charles
Schumer (D-NY), (202) 224-6542, fax: (202) 228-3027
North Carolina: John
Edwards (D), (202) 224-3154, fax: (202) 228-1374
Ohio: Mike DeWine
(R), (202) 224-2315, fax: (202) 224-6519
Pennsylvania: Arlen Specter (R), (202) 224-4254; fax: (202)
228-1229
South Carolina: Lindsey
Graham (R) (202) 224-5972, fax: (202) 224-1189
Texas: John Cornyn
(R),
(202) 224-2934, fax: (202) 228-2856
Utah: Orrin Hatch
(R), (202) 224-5251, fax: (202) 224-5251
Vermont: Patrick Leahy
(D), (202) 224-4242
Wisconsin: Herbert Kohl
(D), (202) 224-5653, fax: (202) 224-9787
Wisconsin: Russell Feingold (D), (202) 224-5323, fax:
(202)
224-2725
You can also contact your
Senator online, using a web site we've set up for this purpose,
http://www.RaiseYourVoice.com/senate/ -- there is a prewritten letter
there,
which we encourage you to edit. Our
online grassroots lobbying system will direct your letter to your
Senator, if
you live in one of the states listed above.
Also, please write us at [email protected]
to let us know that
you've taken action and to report back to us on any potentially
important
information about this vote that you learned.
Thanks for your help on this important issue.
Last but not least, please
visit http://www.RaiseYourVoice.com
for further information on this issue and
the ongoing campaign to repeal this bad law. Some
talking points for your phone calls:
- Over 150,000 people
have been affected by
this law, all of whom had already been punished by the criminal justice
system.
- The vast majority of
drug convictions are
for simple, nonviolent, low-level possession.
- The HEA drug provision
represents a penalty
levied only on the poor and the working
class; wealthier students will not have the doors of college closed to
them for want to financial aid.
- The HEA drug provision has a disparate
impact on different races. African
Americans, for example, comprise 13%
of the population and 13% of all
drug users, but account for more than 55% of those convicted of
drug possession charges.
- Access to a college education is the
surest
route to the mainstream economy and a
crime-free life.
Again, visit
http://www.RaiseYourVoice.com
to write to Congress
and get involved in the
campaign! Students, visit
http://www.ssdp.org to learn about
Students for Sensible Drug Policy, an
organization playing a leading role in this effort.
-- END --
|
Issue #355, 9/24/04
Editorial: The Moral Choice is Clear |
With New Sentencing Legislation Pending in Congress, Church Leaders Urge an End to Mandatory Minimums |
Patients, Doctors, Supporters Head to Washington to Demand Rescheduling of Marijuana as a Medicine |
For Second Year, John W. Perry Fund Helps Students with Drug Convictions Afford College |
DRCNet Interview: Michael Badnarik, Libertarian Party Presidential Candidate |
DRCNet Book Review: "Patients in The Crossfire: Casualties in The War On Medical Marijuana," by Americans For Safe Access |
Action Alert: Still Time to Contact Judiciary Committee Members About HEA Drug Provision |
Newsbrief: Schwarzenegger Signs Syringe Access Bill, Vetoes NEP Bill |
Newsbrief: Schwarzenegger Vetoes Bill Barring High School Drug Testing |
Newsbrief: New Jersey Needle Exchange Bill on Fast Track, Passes First Hurdle |
Newsbrief: Former Child Actor Macauley Culkin Busted for Drugs in All-Too-Typical Cave-In to Police Search Request |
Newsbrief: Montel Williams Show Brings Medical Marijuana Issue to the Masses |
Newsbrief: Bush Warns of Canada Drug Threat, Whistles Past Afghan Opium Fields |
Newsbrief: Guatemala Seeks More Anti-Drug Money from United States |
Newsbrief: Decades of Colombian Drug War Brings... New, More Efficient Drug Organizations |
Newsbrief: Narc Hates Free Publicity |
Newsbrief: This Week's Corrupt Cops Story |
Newsbrief: British Drug Policy Think Tank Says Government Abandoned Planned Heroin Maintenance Expansion |
This Week in History |
The Reformer's Calendar
|
This issue -- main page
This issue -- single-file printer version
Drug War Chronicle -- main page
Chronicle archives
|
PERMISSION to reprint or
redistribute any or all of the contents of Drug War Chronicle (formerly The Week Online with DRCNet is hereby
granted. We ask that any use of these materials include proper credit and,
where appropriate, a link to one or more of our web sites. If your
publication customarily pays for publication, DRCNet requests checks
payable to the organization. If your publication does not pay for
materials, you are free to use the materials gratis. In all cases, we
request notification for our records, including physical copies where
material has appeared in print. Contact: StoptheDrugWar.org: the Drug Reform Coordination Network,
P.O. Box 18402, Washington, DC 20036, (202) 293-8340 (voice), (202)
293-8344 (fax), e-mail [email protected]. Thank
you.
Articles of a purely
educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of the DRCNet
Foundation, unless otherwise noted.
|
