Student Group Sues to Expose Impact of Drug Law

Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) and Public Citizen have filed a lawsuit against the Department of Education to discover just how many people have been denied financial aid for college due to drug related criminal convictions.

Under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the student group has requested information about the impact of drug law on student's access to federal financial aid. The Department of Education has responded to this request with recalcitrance. The federal agency believes that disclosing this information is not in “the public interest” and has refused to waive a $4,000 fee to provide this data. Through the lawsuit, consumer advocates seek the waiver of this fee.

According to an attorney with Public Citizen, the consumer advocacy group representing the SSDP, “the records reveal how the government operates when determining who does and does not get financial aid.” The public right to know this information clearly outweighs the “SSDP's non-existent commercial interest” in the information.

Spokespeople for Students for Sensible Drug Policy say it is not surprising that the government wants to conceal the true impact of their drug policies. “If citizens and legislators know how misguided and ineffective policy impacts their communities, we would be much closer to erasing it from the law books,” says SSDP executive director, Scarlett Swerdlow, “Blocking college access to thousands of would-be students only makes our nation's drug problems worse.”

An estimated 175,000 students are denied federal financial aid for college each year under current federal laws. Current federal law disqualifies certain applicants from receiving financial aid if they have been convicted of certain drug crimes in state or federal court. The date and nature of a drug crime conviction will determine one's eligibility for financial aid.

While this law is intended to further punish people who have been convicted of drug related offenses, critics argue it has tremendously ill effects on society. It punishes people who are trying to better themselves with a college education because of acts they committed in the past.

If you wish to learn more about drug crimes, you may wish to contact a qualified criminal defense attorney. If you have been convicted of a drug crime and want to apply for federal financial aid for college, many experts advice that you submit an application. Just because you have been convicted of a drug related crime, does not mean you are automatically prohibited from receiving college aid.