Some would say there's a certain inherent fairness in "zero tolerance" drug policies that approach every situation with equal levels of panicked overreaction. But as this story shows, zero tolerance is nothing more than a prescription for unfathomable cruelty.
TROPHY CLUB, Texas - Administrators at Byron Nelson High School in Trophy Club suspended a 16-year-old boy on Tuesday because his eyes were bloodshot and they thought he might have been smoking marijuana.
The teen said he was not high. Instead his eyes were red because he had been grieving the loss of his murdered father.
Kyler Robertson’s father was stabbed to death on Sunday. His mother honored his wishes and let him go to school on Tuesday to be with his friends. [MyFoxdw.com]
Wow, that sounds pretty bad, but surely the school officials chilled out once they were made aware of the situation:
Kyler was allowed to return to class after he showed school administrators a copy of his negative test results.
The teen’s mom still wants an apology from administrators and she wants the district to remove the suspension from his permanent record. She is in the process of appealing it.
“We had other things to do this week than worry about a three day window for an appeal, a two hour window for a drug test and my son’s reputation and high school career,” she said.
The marijuana debate is characterized by constant conflict over whether prohibition funds drug cartels, wastes police resources, and rejects potential tax revenue. If only we could somehow measure the totality of cruel and stupid acts carried out independently on a daily basis by self-righteous morons who believe they're helping solve the drug problem by treating innocent people like trash.
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