Drug Convictions and Student Aid
Julie Ross writes a piece in the SMU Daily Campus paper today entitled “Smoke Pot, Get Caught, Lose College Funding”:
This ban unjustly continues to penalize students with drug convictions. Under this ban even a single, minor drug charge or violation (including possession of drug paraphernalia) will prevent a student from receiving financial aid for college. In other words, that funky Phish bong you picked up at Pipe Dream could cost you more than just retail.
She quotes Brandon Conaway writing for the student newspaper for the University of Northern Iowa’s reaction to this:
It may seem justified that breaking the law can result in a loss of federal aid. However, the law only applies to drug convictions. This means that a convicted murderer or rapist can still get financial aid, while someone convicted of misdemeanor possession of marijuana cannot. There is also no conclusive proof that the provision deters drug use – the major reason the provision was implemented in the first place.
They are both right, of course, to protest this onerous “collateral consequence” of what might otherwise be a “minor” drug conviction. This is just one of the reasons I try to steer my University of Texas at Austin clients arrested for marijuana offenses into the Travis County Pre-Trial Diversion program, which when successfully completed leads to a dismissal and eligibility for an expunction.
Even misdemeanor drug offenses needed to be handled carefully. The consequences often go well beyond whatever conditions the judge orders, even if it’s “just probation”.
