Drugs And Money

Under current law, students with drug convictions are ineligible for financial aid for at least a year, maybe more, depending on the conviction. A group opposed to this penalty has been lobbying for years to eliminate it and will get a chance this week when the House Education Committee takes up reauthorization of the Higher Education Act on Friday afternoon.

Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.), a strong supporter of the drug penalty, tried earlier this month to preempt the effort to repeal it with a Dear Colleague letter. It warned members of Congress not to heed the word of the “small but determined coalition of drug-legalization groups” that opposes the penalty. “Before you are bombarded by the talking points of such groups, I wanted to make sure everyone has the facts straight,” he wrote.

The group, however, did its own straightening of facts. Sixteen of its members replied with a letter that’s going out today asking that Souder “retract” his characterization of them. Among the hippies to fire back: the American Federation of Teachers, American Friends Service Committee, National Association of Social Workers, Union for Reform Judaism, etc. See the full list of the aggrieved after the jump.