SSDP CHALLENGES MANDATE ON FINANCIAL AID

Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) filed a class-action lawsuit
on March 22, challenging a federal law that denies federal financial
aid to college students who have a drug conviction.

The lawsuit, filed for SSDP by the American Civil Liberties Union
(ACLU), said the law is unconstitutional and promotes inequality by
essentially punishing people for the same crime twice, a violation of
the Double Jeopardy Clause of the U.S. Constitution's Fifth Amendment,
and irrationally blocking people from a college education.

According to SSDP, a student who has a drug conviction and is denied
financial aid is being punished twice, by first being arrested and
charged, then unfairly being punished again for the same crime.

"We are hoping the law will be found unconstitutional," said SSDP
Campaigns Director Tom Angell. "We are hoping to have the financial
aid ban stricken from the constitution."

In 2000, a provision of the Higher Education Act denied federal
financial aid to drug offenders, and since then more than 200,000
students have been barred from receiving aid, Angell said.

The provision causes more problems than it solves by punishing those
with drug convictions, according to SSDP.

"Providing students with continued access to education is the best way
to ensure they become productive taxpaying members of society," said
Kris Krane, executive director of SSDP.

The ACLU's Drug Law Reform Project attorney Adam Wolf said the law
denies students the opportunity to get on track and succeed.

"This law creates an unfair barrier to education and singles out
working-class Americans," Wolf said.

The lawsuit argues it is unfair to deny financial aid because of a
drug conviction because students with a violation who can afford to
pay for college without federal aid can still attend, while those who
cannot afford it will be unable to obtain higher education.

The United States Department of Education (DOE) was named as the
defendant in the lawsuit, which was filed in South Dakota U.S.
District Court. The DOE Secretary's office said the DOE is the
defendant because it enforces the law and carries out policy enacted
by Congress.

"We want no student to have to worry about not getting financial aid
because of a minor drug conviction," Angell said.

Angell expects the government's response to the lawsuit will be a
motion to dismiss it. He said the process will move very slowly, but
SSDP is looking for more students to sign onto the lawsuit.

According to ssdp.org, the organization is focused on finding
alternative solutions to the nation's drug problems.