Imagine for a second that you're a Freshman in highschool. You decide to smoke weed to help with anxiety and general unhappiness. You forget you have some on you when an SRO searches you. Maybe you're white and are more likely to get off with a warning. Maybe you're black and end up facing criminal charges. Students who face criminal charges have an increase in their likelihood of dropping out. Of all of the men in federal and state prisons, 80% do not have a high school diploma. There is a direct correlation and causation with a lack of high school education and incarceration. According to The Hamilton Project, there is roughly a 70% chance that an African-American man without his high school diploma will be imprisoned by his mid-thirties. You cannot attend college if you're in prison. But maybe you don't face criminal charges. That time. You can still have a record, and that will directly impact how SROs treat you and whether or not a college admissions officer thinks you have "good character".
Drugs can impact someone’s ability to go to college because drugs can become an addiction that can be difficult to overcome. You would start missing classes and start depending on drugs.
