Indiana voters have elected a new governor who was convicted of marijuana possession while studying as an undergraduate at Princeton University. Despite his past, Mitch Daniels went on to become President George W. Bush's budget director before successfully running for governor.

Daniels got a second chance, as did his opponent, incumbent Gov. Joe Kernan, who admitted to smoking marijuana in his twenties. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of students are denied a second chance each year when they lose their student loans because of nonviolent drug offenses. This unfairly punishes students from lower income backgrounds twice, because they depend more on financial aid.

More than 150,000 aspiring students have Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.) to thank for this discrepancy. Souder authored the outrageous Higher Education Act (HEA) Drug Provision, which denies federal aid to drug offenders whether or not the offense happened while they were at school. Under this system, someone who has committed murder is eligible for student aid, but someone who has been caught smoking marijuana is not.

The Drug Policy Alliance Network is a member of the Coalition for Higher Education Act Reform (CHEAR), which earlier this year asked both candidates to support a full repeal of the Drug Provision. We'll be watching to see if Governor-Elect Daniels decides to do so.