Legal Relief! Maryland Considers Allowing Drug Convicts College Financial Aid!

To tell you the truth, I do not like financial aid denial laws at all. It prevents people who really want to go to college just because they got convicted over a possession of weed. But it's a good thing that Maryland General Assembly will consider a bill allowing state aid for those who are convicted of drug use or possession.

An estimated 2,700 students of the 1.4 million who applied for aid were denied federal money for school because of drug convictions according to the organization Students for Sensible Drug Policy, but a bill introduced by Del. Ana Sol Gutierrez (D-Montgomery) seeks to ignore the federal denial and allow state aid. The state currently automatically denies any applicant who was denied federal aid.

Gutierrez said in an interview that besides the 2,700 who went without aid last year, thousands more students are deterred from ever pursuing financial aid because of a law that denies aid even to students whose offense included a simple possession charge.

"If kids think they're going to be denied, they don't even bother to apply," said Gutierrez. "Those are not going to show up in any statistics."

The Diamondback editorial line also stands in full support of the bill.

Consider as well that those hurt by federal restrictions are often the most unfortunate and disenfranchised elements of society. We're not making excuses for drug violators by blaming poverty, but it does not make sense to withhold financial support from the state's poorest, who have already served their time and punishment as mandated by the justice system.

Not everyone gets off scot-free - the state of Maryland itself can restrict drug violators from freely recieving financial aid, but this bill further widens the window for debate on the issue.

Drug violators are fully eligible for admission to the university and in-state tuition status. If the state is interested in restricting the freedom of drug violators to pursue a public education, why restrict only financial aid, and not the education itself?

Many of the people who are denied financial aid really want to go college to better themselves. Stats constantly show that people with a college degree earn a lot higher than high school grads. If we really want to rehabilitate drug users, this is the first step. The only major way we can get rid of this travesty is for Congress to repeal ALL financial aid denial laws regarding drug crimes. But don't expect them to do it.