Hope he doesn't get screwed by one of this country's more ridiculous laws.
http://theleafonline.com/c/politics/2014/08/taking-high-higher-education-since-1998/
With the costs of college rising exponentially faster than wages it is nearly impossible to attend a university without some sort of financial aid. The primary source of governmental financial aid, and also a requirement for many private sources, is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Students must fill out the FAFSA every year to get aid, but since 1998 there has been an extra caveat hidden away in this application, known only to those convicted of drug crimes.
Question 23 on the FAFSA asks if you have been convicted of possessing or selling illegal drugs while receiving aid. As with your
right to bear arms, the federal government makes no exemptions for medical cannabis users. Regardless of your status as a patient, since 1998 the Higher Education Act has been used to delay or deny financial aid to anyone with a drug conviction, and the majority of these convictions, like all drug convictions, are for
cannabis possession alone.
Let’s imagine a common hypothetical situation. If a student is a medical cannabis patient and they are at Burning Man, like thousands are every year, and they happen to be stopped by one of the
thousands of cops out there, then they lose their financial aid for a federal marijuana possession charge. If you didn’t know Burning Man takes place on federal land, also many beaches, forests, and other vacation spots are on federal land and thus subject to federal law. As you can see, it can be pretty easy to get a federal marijuana charge, even in 2014.
Let’s take a different, less common hypothetical. A student burns down a building, hit-and-run kills somebody while getting away, then robs a bank – they can still get financial aid under the HEA because none of this involves drugs. As you can see from our hypothetical students, the government’s priorities with the HEA are a bit skewed.
It’s sixteen years later and over half of the states in America are medical cannabis states yet the HEA remains law without a medical exemption. This change of policy, which signaled a ramping up in the drug war is what gave birth to the non-profit
Students for Sensible Drug Policy. SSDP was founded with the hope of repealing this hurtful policy, and while the HEA is still on the books it isn’t quite as bad as it first was in 1998. Called the
conviction that keeps on hurting, it first created a life-time ban on receiving aid, which has since been changed to appear less threatening.
As this follow up survey to Question 23 makes clear, you can now go to rehab to get your aid back after a year of being sober with random drug testing. While that may work for a one-time user of a hard drug it will not do anything to medical cannabis patients except ruin their college experience by discriminating against their choice of medicine. The Obama White House adds onto the survey by stating your first drug offense loses you aid for a year, the second for two years, and a third will trigger the lifetime ban. It seems the HEA uses a three-strikes law, which hopefully is working out better than
California’s three-strikes law. It also seems that the HEA can still be a lifetime ban on aid.
While the HEA is still in place, and still ruining lives, there are many groups fighting to change that policy. Students for Sensible Drug Policy is still on the forefront, though they are also working on other projects like Good Samaritan policies. SSDP is joined by the
American Civil Liberties Union in calling for an end to this abusive federal policy. In 2003, the ACLU released
Collateral Consequences, a publication on the damage done by the HEA, they found that nearly 90,000 students were denied aid in a three year period from 2000-2003. The ACLU is joined by the Marijuana Policy Project, whose publication Life Sentences found similar damages from the HEA. Despite all the damage caused by the HEA, and the numerous groups working to fight against it, the federal government insists on clinging to this archaic, failed policy. Perhaps, in time, this can
change, until then we can only hope.
