"Misinterpreted" Drug Law Denies 87,000 Students Their Financial Aid

September 12, 2002 - Washington, DC, USA

Washington, DC: The Bush administration's strict enforcement of a controversial amendment to the Higher Education Act has denied federal loans to an estimated 87,000 students - including 30,000 this coming 2002-2003 school year, according to data compiled by the Department of Education and Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP).

The provision, spearheaded in 1998 by Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.), withholds grants, loans or work assistance from anyone convicted of a drug offense, including the misdemeanor possession of marijuana. Those applicants convicted of other crimes, including violent crime, remain eligible.

In recent years, the Department of Education has interpreted the provision as meaning that any applicant with a prior drug conviction is ineligible to receive financial aid. The provision's sponsor has since alleged that he never intended to make the law retroactive. Nevertheless, Souder has done little to support legislative efforts to amend it. Currently, legislation introduced by Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass) to repeal the ban is pending before Congress. Sixty-seven members of Congress have co-sponsored the bill (H.R. 786), although it has yet to receive a hearing.

For more information, please contact Keith Stroup, NORML Executive Director, at (202) 483-5500. To send a letter to your member of Congress in support of H.R. 786, please click here.