ASMSU would be wise to join the voices of 75 other student governments by telling Washington to find another way to fight America's war on drugs.
MSU's undergraduate student government is set to decide Thursday if it will condemn a national policy prohibiting students convicted of drug crimes from receiving federal student loans.
According to the Drug Policy Alliance, the United States awards about $40 billion in financial aid to 7 million students each year. About 43,000 students - the approximate population of MSU - lost their loans during the 2001-02 academic year because of the drug policy.
The drug policy was amended to the 1968 Higher Education Act, which established the federal-loan policy, by Congress in 1998.
Although it is understandable Congress would choose to find a way to curb drug use by penalizing university students, one of the nations most active age groups for drug use, the loan policy is unjust.
America's drug problems need to be addressed through the court system and not the nation's public universities.
While Congress might feel ownership of federal funds, the currency of the United States belongs to its citizens. And the money for federal loans was established to help Americans who might not have the chance otherwise to pursue higher education.
In addition, the nation's drug policy for student financial aid doesn't do much to address the problems of drug use in America. It doesn't address the probability of convicted drug users, who lose their educational opportunities, continuing to indulge in harmful substances. And it doesn't address the fact millions of other students, who are not recipients of federal loans, use drugs daily.
In effect, this policy runs the risk of doing more harm than good by ripping away the prospects of higher education because of poor decisions. It is highly likely a person who tackles life with the fruits of higher education will be better equipped to engineer an environment for themselves that will aid their effort to overcome drug addictions.
This federal drug policy only serves to feed the flames that provide life energy for a seemingly endless cycle of drug addiction in this country.
Yes, America has a drug problem. And yes, Congress needs to battle it. But higher education cannot be its arena.
ASMSU should join the voice of the 75 other student governments who have signed on to fight alongside the American Civil Liberties Union and 66 other national organizations. Collectively, they must lobby Congress to support a bill introduced in 2001 that would repeal the drug policy amendment to the nation's federal student aid law.
America would be better equipped to fight drugs with a larger force of well-educated citizens than it would by denying loans to college students who make a few bad choices. Let the courts deal with those problems.
