Katharine Strickler accurately portrays the insanity inherent in trying to reduce drug abuse by stripping students of their financial aid (“Federal bill may revoke FAFSA question asking about drug convictions,” April 6), but she uses an outdated statistic to reflect the number of students who have been affected by this terrible policy. Actually, more than 160,500 students have filled out the financial aid application and been denied after admitting to drug convictions. This number doesn’t account for all the students who saw the drug question, figured they’d be denied aid and didn’t bother to waste the postage to mail in the application.

Students interested in helping to overturn this and other destructive policies should attend this weekend’s “Building the Foundation for Reform” Midwest regional conference at the University of Iowa. Students from at least six states will be there working together to plan a drug war exit strategy.

Tom Angell

Communications Director

Students for Sensible Drug Policy