(Reform of Higher Education Act Drug Offender Provision) "In early 2006, SSDP and our allies forced Congress to scale back the law, so that only people who are convicted while in college and receiving financial aid will have their eligibility taken away. Now, people who got convicted before they decided to go to college will be able to move on with their lives and earn an education.

(Impact of Student Aid Ban) "Since the drug conviction question was first added to the financial aid form during the 2000-2001 school year, 189,065 people have had their applications rejected because of their answers to it. The government has periodically released data on the number of students affected nationally. DoE released the state-by-state data last week, in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the nonprofit organization Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) and a subsequent lawsuit brought by the student group against the government."

(Impact of Drug Testing for TANF Benefits) "Few proposals [to drug test applicants and recipients of TANF - Temporary Assistance for Needy Families] suggest child well-being improvements as a result of drug testing, though provisions for protective payees for children’s benefits are intended to ensure funds are spent on children’s needs. Proposals that sanction families by definition reduce the income available to the family and may therefore decrease child well?being.

(Denial of Education Benefits) "The Higher Education Act of 1965,¹ as amended, provides for the suspension of certain federal higher education benefits to students who have been convicted for the possession or sale of a controlled substance under federal or state law.² The controlled substance offense may be either a felony or a misdemeanor. Federal higher education benefits that are denied to such individuals include student loans, Pell Grants, Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants, and the Federal Work-Study program.³

(Family and Initiation of Alcohol and Other Drug Use) "In terms of alcohol, some (19, 20) but not other (21) studies have linked parental alcohol and substance use to adolescent initiation of alcohol use. Several studies (14, 22) have identified disruption of family structure and social networks that use alcohol as a risk factor for initiation of alcohol use.

(Parenting and Drug Production) "Among our cohort of children presented here [in this study], however, the majority of the parents were not known to be using illicit substances themselves and, on the basis of our clinical assessments, appear to be able to parent their children adequately.

(Children Residing in a Marijuana Grow House) "Despite our findings that 30% of the children in our study tested positive for drugs of abuse in their hair, we found that the vast majority were in good health at the time of examination, which was within 1 to 2 weeks from their removal from their homes [in which marijuana was grown]. The rates of the mostly minor health issues observed were well within the range expected in Canada and other developed countries."

(Children with Parents Behind Bars) "Among white children in 1980, only 0.4 of 1 percent had an incarcerated parent; by 2008 this figure had increased to 1.75 percent. Rates of parental incarceration are roughly double among Latino children, with 3.5 percent of children having a parent locked up by 2008. Among African American children, 1.2 million, or about 11 percent, had a parent incarcerated by 2008."

(Family Ties) "Compared to teens in families with strong Family Ties, teens in families with weak Family Ties are:
"• Four times likelier to have tried tobacco;
"• Four times likelier to have tried marijuana; and
"• Almost three times likelier to have tried alcohol."