Stand up for students

This is really bad news. "A federal judge granted the Bush administration's motion to dismiss Students for Sensible Drug Policy's lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the law that strips financial aid from college students with drug convictions."

Of all the ill-advised policies in the war on some drugs, the idea of stripping students of financial aid for college on the basis of minor youthful drug convictions is one the most counterproductive. Young people have been stripped of funding for teenage scrapes with the law over as little as less than a gram of pot, yet if they had been arrested for serious criminal acts while under the influence of alcohol, they suffer no penalities.

So what does this policy accomplish? It encourages kids to take up drinking, which is at the root of most college age crime and it denies a youthful drug offender the opportunity for higher education that would likely keep them off drugs and in a good paying job in the future. You almost have to assume that at least some of those who have been prevented from pursuing academic credentials will turn to dealing drugs in order to make a decent living. Make sense to you? Not to me either.

Having been denied their day in court, the next step is to pressure Congress to do the right thing and overturn this discriminatory and egregiously ill-considered penalty. This affects us all, marijuana consumers and non-consumers alike. Please take two minutes and send a pre-written message to your legislator. Even better, use their form and write your own. Either way, please do it today.