Wednesday, September 8, 2004

Urgent Action Needed -- Higher Education Act From Students for a Sensible Drug Policy (with assistance from NORML and DRCNet): Since its inception, our organization has campaigned against a 1998 amendment to the Higher Education Act that denies federal financial aid to anyone convicted of a drug-related offense, no matter how minor. The provision is counter-productive and causes enormous harm, particularly to middle- and low-income students who cannot afford the high costs of college. Department of Education data indicates that more than 150,000 students have been adversely affected by the provision. Today, repeal is within our reach. As part of the reauthorization of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the Senate will reconsider the ban on federal financial aid for drug offenders. We just learned that the vote on ONDCP reauthorization is tomorrow. To make a difference, you must phone today! If your Senator is on the Senate Judiciary Committee (below), take one or two minutes to demand that he or she repeal the ban on federal financial aid for drug offenders. Alabama: Jeff Sessions (R-AL), (202) 224-4124, (202) 224-3149 Arizona: Jon Kyl (R), (202) 224-4521, fax (202) 224-2207 California: Dianne Feinstein (D), (202) 224-3841, fax: (202) 228-3954 Delaware: Joseph Biden (D), (202) 224-5042, fax: (202) 224-0139 Georgia: Saxby Chambliss (R), (202) 224-3521, fax: (202) 224-0103 Idaho: Larry Craig (R), (202) 224-2752, fax: (202) 228-1067 Illinois: Richard Durbin (D), (202) 224-2152, fax: (202) 228-0400 Iowa: Charles Grassley (R), (202) 224-3744; fax: (202) 224-6020 Massachusetts: Edward Kennedy (D), (202) 224-4543, fax: (202) 224-2417 New York: Charles Schumer (D-NY), (202) 224-6542, fax: (202) 228-3027 North Carolina: John Edwards (D), (202) 224-3154, fax: (202) 228-1374 Ohio: Mike DeWine (R), (202) 224-2315, fax: (202) 224-6519 Pennsylvania: Arlen Specter (R), (202) 224-4254; fax: (202) 228-1229 South Carolina: Lindsey Graham (R) (202) 224-5972, fax: (202) 224-1189 Texas: John Cornyn (R), (202) 224-2934, fax: (202) 228-2856 Utah: Orrin Hatch (R), (202) 224-5251, fax: (202) 224-5251 Vermont: Patrick Leahy (D), (202) 224-4242 Wisconsin: Herbert Kohl (D), (202) 224-5653, fax: (202) 224-9787 Wisconsin: Russell Feingold (D), (202) 224-5323, fax: (202) 224-2725 What to say: Hello, my name is __________ and I'm from __________. I'm calling to ask Senator __________ to take action tomorrow during the reauthorization of the Office of National Drug Control Policy and support repeal of the ban on federal financial aid for drug offenders. This provision is poorly-designed and causes enormous harm. (PICK ONE TALKING POINT): - The ban only affects students from low- and middle-income families who depend on aid to afford college. Students from wealthier backgrounds who can afford to pay the full cost of college tuition are unaffected by the drug provision. - The ban has a discriminatory impact on minorities. For example, African-Americans, who comprise 13% of the population and 13% of all drug users, account for more than half of those convicted of drug possession charges. - The ban punishes students twice for the same crime. Students have already paid whatever price the criminal justice system demands of them. The provision represents an additional punishment that limits a student's ability to get an education. - The ban will not solve our nation's drug problem. To limit the number of deserving students eligible for federal financial aid is counter-productive. Access to a college education is the surest route to the mainstream economy and a crime-free life. I hope that Senator ________ will work to repeal this damaging, discriminatory ban. Thank you. More info here. You need to act right away, because this is happening NOW. If you can call, do so first thing in the morning on Thursday if possible. If you have fax capability, do so as soon as you read this. If neither is possible, use this page to send a note (it's hard to say if emails will get to the Senators in time). We've got to get rid of this horrible provision. Of course, what I prefer to do is call my senator and tell him not to re-authorize the ONDCP at all, but that won't happen. 10:42:25 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Illinois House committee to discuss Medical Marijuana Rich Rawlings with the Illinois Marijuana Party tells us that Illinois H.B. 4868 -- a bill creating The Medical Cannabis Act will be discussed in subcommittee on October 4. If you live in Illinois and one of the following Subcommittee members is your Illinois House Representative: Mary E. Flowers, Frank Aguilar, Patricia Bailey, Maria Antonia Berrios, Linda Chapa LaVia, Elizabeth Coulson, John A. Fritchey, Deborah L. Graham, Brent Hassert, Constance A. Howard, Carolyn H. Krause, Rosemary Kurtz, Karen May, David E. Miller, Rosemary Mulligan, Ruth Munson, Kathleen A. Ryg, Ricca Slone, Keith P. Sommer, or Ron Stephens, please contact them and ask them to support H.B. 4868. More information at IDEAL Reform. 10:20:09 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Crack Babies talk back From the Columbia Journalism Review, a piece by Mariah Blake: The Damage Done. It started in fourth grade when his teacher asked him to read aloud. Antwaun stammered, then went silent. "He can't read because he's a crack baby," jeered a classmate. In the cafeteria that day no one would sit near him. The kids pointed and chanted, "crack baby, crack baby." Antwaun sat sipping his milk and staring down at his tray. After that, the taunting never stopped. Unable to take it, Antwaun quit school and started hanging out at a local drug dealer's apartment, where at age nine he learned to cut cocaine and scoop it into little glass vials. "Crack baby," he says. "Those two words almost cost me my education." Antwaun finally returned to school and began learning to read a year later, after he was plucked from his parents' home and placed in foster care. Now twenty, he's studying journalism at LaGuardia Community College in New York City and writing for Represent, a magazine for and by foster children. In a recent special issue he and other young writers, many of them born to crack addicts, took aim at a media myth built on wobbly, outdated science: crack babies. Their words are helping expose the myth and the damage it has done. It's a good piece. For more on the myth of crack babies, see my earlier piece on the subject. From the comments on that piece, it's clear that it's hard for many to accept that the former hype about crack babies was overblown. It's likely that behavioral issues (that were probably more related to their environment than their exposure to crack) cemented the myth in many peoples' minds. 10:06:02 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []