Urgent Action Alert from the SSDP

Here's an e-mail I received today from the Students for Sensible Drug Policy:

As a resident of OH, you can play a huge role in helping Students for Sensible Drug Policy overturn the harmful and unfair law that strips financial aid from college students with drug convictions.

That's because Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) is a member of the committee that will be deciding whether to get rid of or keep the aid elimination penalty THIS WEEK!

Thousands of people from all across the country have taken action in our nearly decade-long campaign to repeal this law, but now you and other supporters in OH can help us ensure victory and reinstate financial aid to hundreds of thousands of students.

There are two easy things you can do to help:

1) Members of the Senate HELP Committee need to hear that constituents like you support repealing the penalty, so please speak your mind by making a phone call to your senator's office today.

* Dial the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. When the operator answers, ask to be connected with the office of Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH).

* When the receptionist in your senator's office answers the phone, politely say something like: "My name is [YOUR NAME] and I live in [YOUR CITY]. When the HELP Committee revises the Higher Education Act soon, I hope that the senator will make sure to get rid of the harmful and unfair law that takes away financial aid from college students with drug convictions. This law causes more, not less, drug abuse by blocking access to education."

2) Once you've made a call, please take another 30 seconds to follow up by sending a pre-written e-mail to your legislators on Capitol Hill. We've made it as easy as possible for you to help; all you have to do is visit http://www.SchoolsNotPrisons.com/help/ and enter your contact information.

This is our best chance to overturn the aid elimination penalty since it was enacted in 1998, so please forward this message to all your friends and family so they can take action too.

I checked Thomas, which doesn't show any action on this, so I hope I'm not too late. If you live in Ohio, please call Senator Brown's office as soon as possible and tell him to vote to get rid of the harmful and unfair law that takes away financial aid from college students with drug convictions. For those of you in other states, here's a link to the SSDP's action alert.