Financial aid withheld for drug crimes

The Courier-Journal reports:

Nearly 12,000 college students from Indiana and Kentucky have been denied federal financial aid since 2000 because of drug convictions, according to new federal data in a national report.

Federal law prohibits people convicted of felony and misdemeanor drug crimes from receiving federal aid for college, although they can regain eligibility by going through drug treatment or reapplying.



Indiana led the nation in the percentage of applicants denied under the law, according to the report by Students for a Sensible Drug Policy, a Washington, D.C.-based nonpartisan, nonprofit drug policy group.

Altogether, about one in every 400 students, 189,065 of 76.8 million, was denied aid, according to the report.

The evolving war on drugs.