The site consented to the fix, so I don’t think there’s reason to complain…
Here’s a follow-up from July – the family is suing.
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Thanks for the link!
And good on the parents for suing.
The article quotes the schools zero-tolerance policy as treating look-alike “drugs” the same as the real thing. So, presumable, a bag of talc would get you expelled there.
How can that even be? You’d be denying a student their right to a public education for having something non-illegal. Or, legal, if you were looking for another word for it. It just makes no sense.
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My fav was keeping their words the same but adding an exclamation point for fun.
D!A.R.E.
Drugs! Abuse Resistance Education
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Under what circumstances would a year-long suspension for possession of a Japanese Maple leaf ever be fair?
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The fact that it tested negative THREE TIMES isn’t enough evidence?
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The latest article on the family’s suit alleges malice, on just those grounds. The people initiating the testing knew the results were negative multiple times, but charged him anyways. Because it was a charge based on no evidence, they allege malice and therefore will have standing to seek some form of reparations.
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The school will allege, no doubt, that the ““lookalike” and “imitation” drugs” clause in the school rule will save them.
I hope it does not.
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What does that make talc powder in the weight room?
So freaking tired of brain dead school admins.
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My thoughts exactly. You know how they always say, “ignorance of the law is no excuse”? Well, it should cut both ways. If regular people don’t get to claim they didn’t know they broke a rule, then those in administrative power don’t get to claim ignorance and mete out punishment anyways. The lookalike rule sounded weak when I read it.
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Maple leaf: palmately compound. Cannabis leaf: pinnately compound. It’s really quite a big difference.
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I really wish that the law took this behavior as seriously as it does drugs. Interfering with a child’s education is far, far more serious than any drug offense, real or imagined, but somehow I don’t think we’ll see jail time for anyone responsible for this. Ideally, I’d like to see them lose their jobs, be banned from ever working in education again, and serve at least 3 years of jail time. Harsh, but you can bet they’d learn some critical thinking skills pretty damn quickly.
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Sometimes my home state gives Texas a run for its money. These times are not happy times.
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According to the description, that’s a maple leaf.
On a clock.
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I think that the administrators should be required to take a botany class taught at the college level, with a high stakes exam at the end, scheduled at 6.30 AM on a Saturday. Bonus points if the class only tangentially covers the difference between marijuana and maple leaf.
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Ahmed’s next project!
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He’s 11 and having panic attacks about college? What?
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Goddamn it Harry, said Principal Charlie, we’re stupider than any damn sonuvabitch in cocksuckin’ Texas! We just gotta show em. show em all.
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Hey, this is a Japanese maple. Canada’s flag is supposed to be a sugar maple, although sometimes even the Canadian mint gets that mixed up.
No, cannabis leaves are still palmately compound, with leaflets around a central point. In most maples the leaves are not compound, only palmately veined and lobed. Even so, your point stands: they’re easy enough to tell apart that, say, an authority specifically interested in one has no excuse not to have figured it out.
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You have to be intentionally STUPID to confuse the two.
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The pre-frontal cortex thing is real - the exact age varies, some people have fully developed by late teens, some closer to age 30. This is been known for a reasonably long time - I first heard that 10-15 years ago. Whether it should determine criminal culpability is of course another question.
Also, if I were that kid, I don’t think my parents wouldn’t have let me return to that school even if they reversed the suspension with no strings attached.
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