The Bush administration has begun enforcing a law that denies federal financial aid to college students with drug convictions. In the past, thousands of students simply didn't answer a question about drug offenses on their forms and got aid just the same. Now if they don't answer, the application will be rejected. The ban runs from one year for a first count of possession to two years for a second offense. A third offense makes the ban indefinite.
First sale brings a two-year ban, with an indefinite ban for a repeat offense.
According to Brian Gralnick of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, on requests for this current school year over 270,000 of the 10 million applicants left the question blank. Only 8900 applicants reported disqualifying convictions and lost some or all of their aid. But because of new enforcement, some 14,000 people have had their assistance pulled. Gralnick predicts that number may swell to 70,000, hurting disadvantaged kids most. And it's also discriminatory toward African Americans, who we know are targets of the drug war more so than the whites. . . .