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Drug
Policy Conundrum
May 1, 2002
By Monica_L
 What
do John W. Perry and George W. Bush have in common in addition
to a middle initial? Both men have been permanently affected
by September 11th terrorist and attacks in New York City and
both held strong views regarding U.S. drug policy. But that
is where all similarity ends.
Prior to Perry's untimely death at age 38, the New York City
Police officer and ACLU activist was a staunch and vocal opponent
of the government's 'war on drugs.' Off duty that fateful
morning last September, Perry happened to be in lower Manhatten
when the first hijacked airplane crashed into World Trade
Center Tower One, prompting him and a fellow officer to rush
to the scene. Perry never emerged from the collapsing tower
but is credited with rescuing hundreds of injured and panicking
civilians.
Currently there is a scholarship fund in the fallen officer's
name. The John W. Perry Fund will assist applicants who have
been denied federal student financial aid due to the Bush
Administration's stringent enforcement of a 1998 law sponsored
by Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN).
Section 484, subsection R of the Higher Education Act of
1998 denies or delays financial aid to student applicants
possessing misdemeanor or felony drug convictions. For each
of the first two convictions, an applicant loses eligibility
for the corresponding number of years, while three possession
or two sales convictions result in indefinite ineligibility.
The law has received renewed attention of late by both supporters
and detractors. Those in favor of the law make the claim that
it promotes accountability for one's actions and makes more
money available for law-abiding students, although none eligible
have ever been denied this entitlement. Detractors of the
law say it impacts mainly low-income students while their
more affluent peers are unaffected by the repercussions of
drug convictions. Students for Sensible Drug Policy estimate
that to date 64,000 students have been denied aid based on
the newly-enforced sanctions.
This policy pits the two ideological factions regarding drug
abuse into opposite camps: hawks who espouse the belief that
tough sentencing laws and zero tolerance are the best way
to eradicate drug use among young Americans, and those who
believe drug use and addiction among non-violent offenders
is mainly a public health issue which is best handled by treatment
providers.
The debate was ratcheted up a notch when the Office of National
Drug Control Policy aired controversial commercials for the
first time during the 2002 Super Bowl in which teenage drug
use was linked with international terrorism. The ads opened
a $10 million media blitz which proclaimed that money from
the drug trade finances acts of terror. While cost-effective
drug treatment programs continue to go underfunded, the government
spent scarce funds to purchase the most expensive air-time
available on television to promote the dubious theory that
our nation's teenagers are killers by proxy.
Absent the emotional impact of the purported drug/terrorist
connection, the statement is one that reveals itself as being
long on speculation and short on facts. Non-violent drug users
are deemed guilty by association for the actions of drug traffickers
overseas. The message might not ring so hollow if gas consumers
were likewise taken to task for providing financial support
to terrorism. Additionally, the drug/terror connection is
dubious at best since teenagers are statistically more likely
to abuse alcohol and marijuana than Columbian cocaine or heroin
from Afghanistan.
ONDCP director John Walters is no stranger to controversial
statements and speculation. A hard-line drug warrior and deputy
drug czar to William Bennett during the Bush I administration,
Walters is co-author of the book Body Count: Moral Poverty
and How to Win America's War Against Crime and Drugs. He,
William Bennett and John DiIulio warned of the emergence of
a wave of cold-blooded superpredators in early 21st century
America. Not only has their prediction not become reality,
their theory has since discredited by bona fide criminologists
as junk sociology.
Prior to Bush assuming office, students who left the drug-conviction
question on their financial-aid application form blank were
not penalized for the omission. Bush, whose own rumored substance
abuse never became a substantial issue during his presidential
campaign, and has been largely ignored by the media ever since,
has not endured the scrutiny or questions regarding his fitness
to take the moral high ground on this issue.
President Clinton's detractors pilloried him for his infamous
defense that although he had experimented with marijuana,
the then-Oxford student 'didn't inhale.' Critics labeled him
soft on crime for his emphasis on treatment and prevention
over long sentences and expensive military interdiction although
drug arrests and drug control spending rose to record levels
during Clinton's two terms. To his credit, however, drug courts
proliferated in the 1990's and millions of non-violent addicts
avoided jail, kicked their habit and became productive members
of society at a substantial savings to taxpayers.
Bush also reneged on his campaign promise to take a compassionate
conservative approach to drug policy. Whether or not the cocaine
abuse rumors which briefly surfaced at that time are true,
George W. Bush, an admitted alcoholic, escaped the accountability
and consequences he now imposes on others with substance abuse
problems.
Section 484 of the Higher Education Act of 1998 should be
repealed and Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) has introduced legislation
H.R. 786 against this discriminatory and counterproductive
law. Yale University has sided with Frank and against its
most famous alumnus on this issue. Yale is one of a handful
of colleges providing funds to those who have been turned
down for financial aid in the past year.
Officer Perry was submitting his resignation form on the
morning of September 11, 2001. It was supposed to have been
his last day on the force because Perry had come the conclusion
that he could help more people outside of law enforcement.
It was and he is.
Perry's legacy will be to help Americans who would be punished
more than once and perhaps perpetually for much less egregious
'youthful indiscretions' than those of the man who occupies
the White House.
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