Pot Prosecution Of Teen Petty And A Waste Of Money

[Medical Marijuana]

It was with disappointment that I read Bob Vaillancourt's article of May 8 ( "Pot leads to $100 fine" ) regarding the local high school student who was caught with $10 worth of marijuana at his school.

While I certainly agree with Justice Guy Mahaffy's contention that school is no place for drugs, I would further contend that a courtroom is no place for a teenager found to possess such a small amount of marijuana.

I am troubled by this as a person who pays taxes - I cannot see how the expense of a prosecution is justified in this petty matter.

Surely, the school has mechanisms in place to deal with such an infraction, a quick visit to any local high school's website should yield a code of conduct that states as much.

I'm sure examples are made every day of those who fail to abide by this code of conduct - the schools suspend students regularly for such infractions.

In fact, last year our provincial legislature passed Bill 212, which amended the Education Act. This includes a section that specifically prescribes no more than a 20-day suspension as punishment for possession of small amounts of illegal drugs.

Are we to believe that since last June ( when the bill received Royal Assent ) circumstances have changed so much as to render this prescription inadequate?

I am also troubled by this as a citizen, since some questions are raised for me. If our elected officials have so lately detailed a clear process for dealing with such a situation extralegally, why was the law involved at all?

And even recognizing that the matter did come before the courts, how can we as a community justify imposing a criminal record ( with all the consequences for travel and employment it carries ) on such a young person for such a small offence?

While I must again state clearly that I agree with Justice Mahaffy's contention - recreational/illegal drugs have no place in schools - I must strongly disagree with his decision regarding the necessity of setting such an example.

Especially at such a price, both literally and figuratively.

Jesse Greenwell

Sudbury

Source: Sudbury Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2008 The Sudbury Star
Contact: letters@thesudburystar.com
Website: The Sudbury Star - Ontario, CA

[infoman]

thanks for article----the problem of drugs at this small amount should have stayed in the school to handle,,but the arrest and trial,,etc did get governments $$$$$$$$ to feed the courts money machine--f.g.s.,,,aka,,infoman,,,,ohio,,,

[SmokeSessions]

Unfortunately when anything illegal is found within the school the police must be called. Sure, $10 worth of pot doesn't seem like much to us the users of 420magazine.com, but thats how society deals with it. Parents of children who not use marijuana or any other 'illegal' substance, don't want their children exposed to it and as tax paying citizens have the right to know that illegal activities within a school will be dealt with accordingly within the authority of the law. It sucks, but that how society has classified such a petty amount, and it would be unfair to the other citizens of the country if one student was treated differently as the rest.