12-year-old girl suspended because she lent her inhaler to a gasping classmate

boing
41

Mark is correct. Albuterol (generically: Salbutamol, or 4-[2-(tert-butylamino)-1-hydroxyethyl]-2-(hydroxymethyl)phenol) is

  1. prescription only
  2. not subject to the Controlled Substances Act, and therefore does not fall under the legal definition of a scheduled controlled substance.

Now, the school district may have variations, perhaps sane, perhaps ignorant. But as to the point of whether albuterol is a “controlled substance” the answer is no, it is not.

Correct. The school administrators in that school district need a good dressing-down of what their own drug policy actually says and means. If I were the parent, I would be considering a lawsuit against the school district.

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42

#NotJustTexas :slight_smile:

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You’re basing your objection on the news story’s wording, which is unfair to the school district.

it is good to be skeptical of governmental institutions, while retaining a faith in human nature.

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44

Is this stuff like ventalin then?

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You could also push for no punishment whatsoever, along with an explanation to the student (as well as her classmates) why it might not have been the best first course of action.

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46

Yeah Ventolin is a brand name albuterol inhaler.

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47

Ventolin is the brand name for Albuterol (at least, in my inhaler sitting right here).

So yes, very like.

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48

Under my Local School District’s student handbook listing for “Exceptional Misconduct” -

Possession, use, purchase, sale, agreement or intent to sell or intent to purchase (whether completed or not), transport, distribution and/or delivery, of alcohol, marijuana, any food or beverage containing alcohol, marijuana, controlled substances, (e.g., narcotics or inhalants) prescription drugs, over the counter medication, or other chemical substances, in a manner inconsistent with its intended use, the prescribing order or look-a-likes including but not limited to drug paraphernalia or substance carrying
devices (including but not limited to; vapor, hookah and e-cigarettes) is prohibited.

After the first violation, a ten (10) day suspension is handed down. This may be reduced to five (5) if:

If the student and parent agree, and the student undergoes an assessment performed by a state
certified chemical dependent treatment agency qualified to perform drug and alcohol
assessments, the suspension will be reduced to the minimum school days, subject to the
student’s successful completion of; a drug and alcohol, assessment, any follow-up treatment
recommendations, and student and parent/guardian attendance at the district drug/alcohol
information class.

As written, this could easily get someone suspended and remanded to drug assessment for an asprin, a cough drop, or contact lens solution. There doesn’t seem to be any incentive to NOT punish the kid, nor does there seem to be any leniency or discretion permitted on the part of the staff apart from willful blindness. I understand that many kids will leverage whatever openings they are given… However. the full version of this was sent home with my preschooler on their first day.

This seems a bit much.

Were it up to me, I’d give the kid a scholarship or at least an Official Certificate of Commendation, and to hell with the Administration.

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49

Welcome @Bevelcut!

I’d just like to clarify to those here that our new member here isn’t me.

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50

What kind of bevels are we talking about here?

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51

I can only speak for the Bevels here under my roof, but I guess I’d say we’re on a uniform slant toward explosions in the sky and cute pet pics.

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52

Yes, even better… I’m in a zero-tolerance state, tolerance is exactly what I should be pushing for. Thanks for reminding me!

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53

I dig the slant of your fedora. I could use a few colorful explosions over here.

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54

People like this are awesome. My current boss sat me down for a bit of a talk when I signed on to work under him how we had X days of time off, and how this wasn’t split up between vacation and sick days, you could carry over y days per year yadda yadda, vacation had to be requested and approved in advance, and how if we’d made sure everything was in order before we left, and nobody else on the team would have to pick up our slack, the occasional day of suddenly needing to call in sick was to be expected purely coincidentally of course when the fishing was good (WINK WINK!).

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55

"First, albuterol is not a controlled substance. Second where was the
teacher or coach and why didn’t they do anything to help the girl who
was wheezing and gasping? "

A teacher is not allowed to touch a student under any circumstances. My wife puts her hands behind her back when she talks to hers. The last time she touched one (trying to talk with his hand inside his mouth), an investigation ensued.

So I’d guess the teacher buzzed the office and waited. I would. Those whose only experience with public schools is what they were like when you were there 30 years ago don’t know what they are like at all.

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56

Really? It’s over the counter in Australia, despite our reputation among right wing USians as a nanny state…

Also, albuterol = salbutamol, the other generic name for the substance, in case anyone else doesn’t recognise the name.

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57

My Primatine Mist worked just fine and was available OTC for a not entirely insane markup. Then they banned it because it was causing global warming. Now my choices are a) pay 10x what the exact same thing is worth, b) die or c) go to the hospital. Thanks for protecting me from global warming, government.

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58

Holy crap. Scary. As if any human decency and common sense is left behind out of fear of legal consequences. It’s quite ironic that this happens in institutions whose primary purpose is to teach critical thinking.

Also sad is that apparently it is possible to insulate certain professions from unnecessary/frivolous lawsuits → see law enforcement. The US is a country of extremes, nothing happens in regulation. What we see here is are the polar opposites. One important profession/institution is hamstrung in fear of lawsuits - the other one is so insulated that every ounce of responsibility vanished.

Laws have to serve society not the other way round.

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59

You must be confused. K-12 education in the US has nothing to do with critical thinking. Its only purpose is to equip students with the bare minimum of knowledge necessary to operate a cash register or a deep fryer.

Critical thinking doesn’t happen until a university level philosophy class, and even then, it’s a very novel concept that most students don’t get due to the 13+ previous years of being taught to believe whatever they’re told with no need for verification, experimentation, or logical examination.

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60

Philosophy is a suboptimal area to get familiar with critical thinking, words are too “elastic”. Start with physics - observations and simple experiments, possibly at early elementary school. The reality is way more important (and more interesting) than waving words around, and the experiment is the final arbiter of any reasoning. (And it gets more interesting when the experiment is badly done and it has to be decided if the hypothesis or the experiment are at fault.)

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