Should Students Convicted On Drug Charges Be Allowed to Receive Financial Aid?
Posted on March 22nd, 2006
Many students do not realize that they will lose their financial aid if they are ever convicted of possessing or selling drugs: something that has happened to nearly 200,000 university students so far.
Recently, the group Students For Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) has teamed up
with the American civil liberties Union to fight this practice.
The groups offer many reasons why this law should be abolished, but perhaps the most compelling is the following:
Putting up roadblocks on the path to education does nothing to solve our nation's drug and crime problems; it only makes them worse. Forcing students convicted of drug charges to drop out of school makes them more likely to fall into drug abuse or commit crimes (thus becoming costly burdens on the criminal justice system) and less likely to become productive taxpaying citizens.
Anyone who would like to join in the effort to fight the policy, or would like to seek justice for having their financial aid taken away, can contact the group here.
What do you think? Should the current policy be changed, or is a drug conviction an offense serious enough for this kind of punishment?
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