Mainers and other Americans struggling with drug addiction face significant barriers to recovery, many of which were unnecessarily constructed by lawmakers in a counterproductive effort to reduce drug abuse.

Perhaps the most detrimental legislatively erected barrier is the law that denies college financial aid to people with drug convictions on their records. Blocking access to education is both senseless and harmful to those who are in recovery, as well as to their families, friends, neighbors and society at-large.

This policy, which has barred more than 160,500 would-be students from receiving aid, is the result of a provision added to the 1998 Higher Education Act. Lawmakers from Maine and around the country should work to repeal the HEA drug provision and help affected students get back into school as soon as possible.

Preventing people from higher education does nothing to prevent drug abuse or help people get over their addictions. Actually, being enrolled in college reduces the likelihood that people will head down the path to drug abuse.

According to a 2004 report from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 18 percent of college students have used an illicit drug other than marijuana in the past year, compared to 24 percent of their same-age peers who aren’t enrolled in college. Five percent of college students have used cocaine in the past year, while nine percent of their same-age peers have.

Additionally, receiving an education reduces the likelihood that individuals coming out of prison will return to engaging in illegal activity, including drug use.

The Correctional Education Association found that prisoners who receive at least two years of higher education have only a 10 percent arrest rate, compared with a national rearrest rate of about 60 percent. Denying education to at-risk individuals only dooms them to a life without the financial opportunities bestowed by a college degree and makes them more likely to repeat poor choices they may have made in the past.

Lawmakers should encourage people returning to communities from prison or struggling with addiction to move beyond their stumbling blocks, but the HEA drug provision threatens their chances of becoming productive members of society. Graduating more college students means increased tax revenue from greater economic productivity, whereas incarcerating more prisoners means that taxpayers must pay the bill for increased criminal justice spending.

Breaking cycles of addiction and recidivism are crucial to building a healthy and just society, and benefits individuals, their families, their communities, public health and safety, and taxpayers. Freedom from addiction is possible, but barriers like the HEA drug provision make the road to recovery much harder to travel. The law perpetuates the discrimination and stigma that prevents many people from seeking recovery or moving on to better lives once they achieve it. The drug provision is not a deterrent to drug use; it’s a deterrent to recovery.

Consequently, the addiction recovery community has resoundingly rejected this counterproductive approach to drug abuse prevention. Along with more than 200 other organizations, the Association for Addiction Professionals, Join Together, the American Public Health Association and the National Association for Public Health Policy have asked Congress to repeal the HEA drug provision.

The Removing Impediments to Students’ Education Act, a U.S. House bill that would repeal the HEA drug provision, has 67 co-sponsors, including Rep. Thomas Allen from Maine. But there isn’t yet a similar bill in the Senate. Maine’s Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins should act to reinstate aid to Mainers working to get their lives back on track.

If they don’t, who will?

Ruth Blauer is executive director of the Maine Association of Substance Abuse Programs in Augusta.

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