A 14-year-old girl can walk into school as an ordinary student and walk out with a felony. All it takes is one lapse in judgment – a five-minute mistake – and she will forever have a criminal record. The education system is at the root of the problem, and the solution. A potential light in the bleak world of drug education was House Bill 62, which was proposed, yet sadly not passed in the 87th Texas Legislative session. Texas missed an opportunity to employ restorative justice practices, which focus on healing harm rather than inflicting punishment. In the case of drugs, often the only harm done is to the user themselves, opening the possibility for addiction counseling and other forms of therapy that help students address the root of potential problems that cause them to use drugs as a coping mechanism. Current "drug education" programs leave students wildly unprepared for actual interactions with substances and their consequences – both legal and emotional. After failing to provide evidence-based prevention, Texas schools respond with substance charges that can keep students out of school forever and lead to lifelong involvement in the criminal justice system. Schools must provide mandatory drug education rather than inescapable incarceration.