|
DRCNet
Needs
You
to
Write
the
Senate
3/4/05
https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/377/senate.shtml
The Higher Education Act
(HEA) Drug Provision -- a misguided law written by arch-drug warrior Rep.
Mark Souder (R-IN) -- has since taking effect in fall 2000 taken financial
aid for college away from more than 160,500 would-be students because of
drug convictions. Next week (March 9), Rep. Barney Frank will reintroduce
legislation -- now titled the RISE Act, Removing Impediments to Students'
Education -- to repeal the law, and the next day the Coalition for Higher
Education Act Reform will hold a press conference at the Capitol to support
it. Though the RISE Act last session garnered 70 cosponsors, a companion
to it has yet to be introduced in the Senate.
Please click
here to contact your two US Senators and ask them to sponsor a companion
bill to repeal the drug provision. Our web site includes a sample
letter that you can use but are also encouraged to edit, and it will send
your letter to your two US Senators by e-mail or fax. Also please
call your Senators directly -- you can use the Congressional Switchboard
at (202) 224-3121 or get their numbers from the Senate
web site -- and urge them to sponsor legislation in the Senate to repeal
the HEA Drug Provision.
BACKGROUND: Added in 1998
as an amendment to the Higher Education Act (HEA), the "drug provision"
(section 484(r), or 20 USC 1091(r)) excludes students with drug convictions
from receiving federal financial aid to attend institutions of higher learning.
The provision has had the effect of disqualifying a large number of deserving,
low- to middle-income students from receiving federal aid to attend college
for what are often relatively minor drug offenses, including misdemeanor
possession of marijuana.
SOME TALKING POINTS: The
HEA drug provision is troubling for numerous reasons:
-
It is economically discriminatory,
only affects the children of low- and middle-income families who rely on
student loans, federal work-study programs, Pell Grants, and other forms
of aid to help finance their educations. These are the very students
and families whom the HEA set out to assist by expanding their educational
opportunities.
-
It is inappropriate to punish
people twice for the same offense.
-
Judges already have the discretion
to deny federal benefits to those convicted in their courts. Likewise,
school administrators have the discretion to discipline and/or expel students
who violate university policies. We should let those who are directly
in touch with the individual cases make such judgment calls -- not have
one blanket policy decided in Washington, DC, for everybody.
-
Studies have shown that those
convicted of crimes are far less likely to be re-arrested after having
received two years of postsecondary education and that students who leave
school after their first year have a dramatically reduced return rate.
For more information on the
HEA Drug Provision and how to become active in the campaign to repeal it,
please see http://www.raiseyourvoice.com
online. For further suggestions on talking points or strategy, please
contact Chris Mulligan by e-mail at [email protected],
or by phone at (202) 293-8340.
P.S. If you're in the DC
area, please attend our fundraiser for the John W. Perry Fund, our scholarship
program helping students who've lost financial aid because of the drug
provision, the evening of Wednesday, March 9 -- click
here for details!
P.P.S. If you live in Arizona,
please click here to write your
state legislators in support of a resolution now being considered to put
the state on record calling on Congress to repeal the drug provision!
-- END --
|
Issue #377
-- 3/4/05
The
Ignorance
and
the
Damage
Done
|
International
Harm
Reduction
Battle
Heating
Up
|
National
Drug
Control
Strategy
Taking
Lumps
from
All
Sides
|
Under
New
South
Dakota
Anti-Meth
Law,
Drug
Use
Equals
Child
Abuse
|
DRCNet
Needs
You
to
Write
the
Senate
|
DRCNet/Perry
Fund
Event
to
Feature
Rep.
John
Conyers
and
Kemba
Smith,
March
9
in
Washington,
DC
|
Coasters
to
Stop
the
Drug
War
|
Events
and
Conferences
Coming
Up
for
Drug
Reformers
--
Come
Out
and
Be
a
Part
of
It
|
Newsbrief:
This
Week's
Corrupt
Cops
Stories
|
Newsbrief:
Four
Canadian
Mounties
Killed
Raiding
Marijuana
Grow
|
Newsbrief:
Legalize
It,
Says
Business
Week
Columnist
|
Newsbrief:
Washington
State
Drug
Reform
Coalition
Launches
Campaign
|
Newsbrief:
Texas
Racial
Profiling
Study
Finds
No
Progress,
Calls
for
Ban
on
Consent
Searches
|
Newsbrief:
Arkansas
Bill
That
Would
Have
Cut
Methamphetamine
Sentences
Defeated
|
Newsbrief:
Utah
Treatment
Not
Jail
Bill
Dying
For
Lack
of
Funding
|
Newsbrief:
Colombia
Guerrillas
Demand
Return
of
Commander
Extradited
to
US
|
Newsbrief:
British
Opposition
Promises
Tough
New
Drug
War
if
Elected
|
Newsbrief:
As
British
Parties
Embrace
Student
Drug
Testing,
Research
Report
Flashes
Caution
Light
|
Newsbrief:
"The
Marijuana-Logues"
Tour
Cancelled
After
Parole
Officer
Forces
Tommy
Chong
to
Quit
|
A
Drug
War
Carol
Now
Available
in
Spanish
and
French
|
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
|
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P.O. Box 18402, Washington, DC 20036, (202) 293-8340 (voice), (202)
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you.
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