People coming out of prison are much less likely to return to illegal activities, including drug use, if they enter higher education. According to the Correctional Education Association, only 10 percent of prisoners who receive at least two years of higher education are arrested again, compared with a general rearrest rate of about 60 percent. Blocking education to ex-offenders only condemns them to lives without the financial opportunities made possible by college degrees and makes them more likely to repeat bad choices made in the past.

Public policies should encourage people who have been in trouble with drugs to move beyond their past mistakes, but the drug provision endangers their chances of becoming productive citizens. Graduating more students from college means greater economic productivity and increased tax revenue, while locking up more inmates means taxpayers must pay the bill for skyrocketing criminal justice costs. Blocking education for determined students is fiscally irresponsible.