A 7th grade girl was suspended from school for five days because a friend put a single prescription drug pill in her hand.  The pill was Adderall, an  ADHD drug.  The girl who said no said no and gave the pill back to her friend.  The school supseded the girl for five days for possession of a drug.  The girl’s parents said they were proud of her for saying no to drugs just as she had been taught in the school’s DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education).  The instructors must have forgotten to tell the kids not to touch the drugs when saying no.  The Greater Clark County Schools zero tolerance policy says one touch equals a five day suspension.

How do we get educators who don’t have a clue?  Where’s the common sense, fairness and justice?  Why can’t they realize that punishments like this  sends a message that the system is unfair and you will be punished even if you are innocent?  If a kid 1 puts a pill in the hand of kid 2, how would kid 2 know what the pill was or that the pill was a legal vs. an illegal drug?  To me and to kids, one white  round pill looks just like another white round pill.

Is Adderall an illegal drug that cannot be possessed?  I don’t know.  Do you?  Are all pills considered drugs that cannot be possessed?  When is a pill legal to possess vs. illegal to possess?  If a student touched an aspirin pill, would the student be suspended for possessing a drug?  What about possession of a single M & M candy?  It looks like a pill.  Is an M & M a banned drug because of its  pill-like shape?  The schools don’t teach the kids reading, writing or arithmetic so my guess is they are not teaching drug recognition.  Maybe the school should have a full-time drug counselor to further waste precious  funds who is qualified to examine pill-like items and determine if an item is an illegal drug or ok to possess on the school grounds.