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Jewish World Review Sept. 20, 2005 / 16 Elul, 5765 The War on Drugs in action By Froma Harrop
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
During the 2000 presidential campaign, George W. Bush was asked
whether he had ever tried cocaine. His answer was that he hadn't used drugs
for 25 years. I take that as a "Yes."
That same year, Lincoln Chafee was running for the U.S. Senate
from Rhode Island and was asked the same question. He gave a more forthright
response, admitting that he had sniffed coke while a student at Brown
University.
Possession of cocaine, a felony, did not interfere with either
politician's Ivy League education. Nor did it stop them from seeking and
attaining high public office. Today, taxpayers cover both men's salaries and
health-care costs, and will eventually provide their government pensions.
All, apparently, is forgiven.
But when some low-income kid gets convicted of smoking a joint
(a misdemeanor), America gathers up its moral indignation and strips him of
his federal student loan. This is a sick double-standard, and it will
continue unless changes are made in the Higher Education Act.
Congress is now reauthorizing the 40-year-old law, which was
created to help students pay for college. The aid comes in the form of
grants, student loans and work-study programs. In 1998, Congress added the
Drug Provision, which bars students ever convicted of the sale or possession
of illegal drugs from participating in the program.
There's an effort in Congress to lessen the Drug Provision's
burden on poor and working-class students. But anything less than its total
elimination tramples the American ideal of equal opportunity.
As things now stand, police swoop down on some college party and
drag off the pot-smoking kids. Come the next semester, rich daddies write
the usual checks, and the children of doctors, lawyers and U.S. presidents
are back in class. Poor and working-class students go home. So far, 175,000
young people have lost federal student aid because of the Drug Provision.
The whole War on Drugs is a lesson in class discrimination. "A
ton of drugs are taken by middle-class kids," says Tom Angell, a director of
Students for Sensible Drug Policy. "Middle- and upper-class people often
don't get caught. And they can afford good lawyers to avoid a conviction in
the first place."
A possible case in point is Mitchell Daniels, Republican
governor of Indiana. As a student at Princeton, Daniels was charged with the
possession not only of marijuana, but also of LSD. He was never actually
convicted, but did plead guilty to a disorderly conduct charge for smoking
pot. He paid a fine, and his studies continued.
During the campaign for Indiana governor, Daniels' rival,
Democratic incumbent Joe Kernan, admitted to smoking pot while in his 20s.
And so it goes. These examples barely scratch the surface on the histories
of illicit drug use by our political leaders.
The "war" is also racist. Seventy-two percent of all drug users
are non-Hispanic whites, according to government numbers. Blacks account for
only 13 percent of the population and 15 percent of the illicit drug users.
But they are 57 percent of the inmates doing time in state prisons for drug
offenses.
The Drug Provision was the handiwork of Rep. Mark Souder, an
Indiana Republican. Its intention was to deter young people from taking
drugs. In practice, it deters poor people from getting a college education.
Would someone please explain how denying poor kids the money for college is
going to save them?
The House version of the revised Higher Education Act leaves the
drug conviction question on the financial-aid application, but removes
punishment for drug convictions before college. In other words, high-school
students caught smoking pot in a park would no longer have their futures
ruined. But that still would happen if a student is convicted while in
college and receiving assistance.
In the Senate bill, students would not be grilled about
convictions for possessing drugs, either in high school or while getting
aid. But they would nevertheless be asked about convictions for selling
drugs.
Here's the War on Drugs in action. Without shame, the political
elites hunt for ways to make examples of lower-income people for doing what
they did. Given the society-wide use of illegal substances and uneven
application of drug laws, singling out poor students for special punishment
is, excuse the expression, hypocrisy on speed.
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© 2005 Creators Syndicate |
Arnold Ahlert | |||||||||||
