"Health & Medical News"

By Bob Curley

? A bid to end federal student-aid penalties for those with drug convictions was launched with high hopes earlier this year, but now appears to be in deep trouble in Congress.

A broad coalition of drug-reform, educational, and addiction-related organizations?  threw its weight behind a plan to amend the federal Higher Education Act (HEA) and overturn a policy of denying federal financial aid to students convicted of drug offenses. The policy, devised by Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.) and passed by Congress in 1999, requires students to divulge information about convictions for drug offenses — but not any other crimes — on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

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The U.S. Sentencing Commission has ruled that recent changes to the federal sentencing guidelines for crack-cocaine offenses will be applied retroactively, meaning that up to 20,000 current prisoners may be able to apply for early release, USA Today reported Dec. 12.

The commission previously voted to reduce the disparity between crack-cocaine penalties and the penalties for offenses involving the powdered version of the drug; that change went into effect Nov. 1. In its latest action, the panel defied the Bush administration and voted unanimously to apply the lower crack sentences to offenders currently serving time.

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The group Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) said that a recent decision to ease federal penalties for crack cocaine offenses should be retroactively applied to offenders already in prison, the Austin American-Statesman reported Nov. 3.

Congress went along with the U.S. Sentencing Commission’s recommendation that crack penalties should be reduced by about 10 percent to bring them into closer alignment with penalties for powder-cocaine offenses. But FAMM President Julie Stewart said that the policy shift doesn’t go far enough because it was not retroactively applied.

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