I heard that Congress recently passed a law that prevents college students from receiving financial aid if they have a marijuana conviction. Is this true?

A provision in the 1998 Higher Education Act, denies federal financial aid to students with past drug convictions. The Clinton administration declined to aggressively enforce the law by allowing students to leave the question about past drug convictions blank on the financial aid application. The Bush administration has advised it will be enforcing the law and requiring students to answer the question. As a result, tens of thousands may lose federal financial aid next fall. The question asked is, "Have you ever been convicted of possessing or selling illegal drugs? If you have, answer 'Yes,' complete and submit this application, and we will send you a worksheet in the mail for you to determine if your conviction affects your eligibility for aid." Under the law, students convicted of any drug offense since their 18th birthday become ineligible for federal financial aid, grants and loans for one or two years, depending on whether they were charged with possession or sale. Repeat offenders will be permanently ineligible for aid. In order to have their eligibility reinstated, students must participate in a federally approved drug-rehabilitation program, which includes two surprise urine tests. After a year, aid can be reinstated. Only repeat offenders face losing aid for good. Opponents of the law say it denies the very education that can help young people leave past mistakes behind them. Others say it discriminates by your family's socioeconomic status, because if you're from an affluent family, and don't need financial aid, you won't be penalized. And others claim it is unfair to single out drug offenders and not offenders of other types of crime.