Youth
US GA: Student Sues Clayton County District Over Strip Search
Athens Banner-Herald, 16 Feb 2012 - ATLANTA - A Georgia middle school student claimed in a lawsuit Wednesday he was humiliated and traumatized when he was brought to a vice principal's office and forced to strip in front of classmates who said he had marijuana. The student, then in the seventh-grade, said he still suffers from emotional distress because his classmates taunted him by calling him Superman, the underwear he was wearing when he was strip-searched. The student is suing the Clayton County School District for unspecified punitive and compensatory damages.
Categories: Youth
Crazy Anti-Drug Ad Tells Kids to Do Parkour Instead of Drugs
As I've discussed previously, Drug Czar is just one of the worst jobs you can have. You don't get to use cool weapons or go on missions or do anything exciting, ever. Your job is to convince adults that the drug war is good and convince young people that drug use is bad. It hasn't gone well for anyone, no, not at all.
If anybody needs a quick exhibit in why the government's anti-drug propaganda has become such a joke, you're in luck, because the Drug Czar's office continues to release some of the straight-up stupidest advertisements I've ever seen, and this is one of them right here
Categories: Youth
CN ON: UP Program Targets Teens' Drug, Mental Health Issues
Packet & Times, 11 Feb 2012 - ORILLIA - Orillia students are calling for more mental health supports to help them reach their goals and avoid the pitfalls of drug abuse. Drinking and drug use by youth in the area is among the highest in the province, and a recent study of Simcoe County students points to a lack of mental health resources as the No. 1 reason.
Categories: Youth
What if Day Care Workers Get Stoned on Marijuana and Kill Children?
You may think legalizing marijuana is such a great idea, but what if it's actually the worst idea ever? Here's someone who believes the latter, and they've written a letter to their local newspaper explaining why.
Categories: Youth
CN ON: Fewer Hamilton Students Busted
Glanbrook Gazette, 07 Feb 2012 - Hamilton police are busting fewer students and confiscating less pot despite a steady increase in drug surveillance at city schoolyards. Plainclothes officers conducted 103 random drug sweeps at high schools in 2011, but arrested only 11 students - down from 28 the year before, when there were 30 fewer drug sweeps.
Categories: Youth
CN AB: Kids Aren't Alright
The Calgary Sun, 05 Feb 2012 - Calgary's top cop says parents shouldn't delay until their child has drugs in their pockets to talk to them about the perils of drug use. Instead, starting when they are as young as seven or eight years old they can better prepare youngsters for the inevitable introduction into a world where curiosity, peer pressure and drug-dealers posing as pals can lure them if they aren't taught to avoid the hook.
Categories: Youth
US CO: Valley Teens Have Easy Access To Marijuana
The Aspen Times, 05 Feb 2012 - RFSD saw 61 drug-related incidents in '09-10 school year Editor's note: The following article is part of a collaborative effort by HealthPolicySolutions.org, Education News Colorado and I-News Network that focuses on medical marijuana dispensaries and the use of marijuana in schools. The article below addresses the impact in the Roaring Fork Valley. For complete coverage, visit www.HealthPolicySolutions.org.
Categories: Youth
US CO: Valley Teen: Marijuana Is 'Widely Available'
Glenwood Springs Post Independent, 05 Feb 2012 - RFSD Saw 36 Drug-Related Incidents in 2011 School Year Editor's note: The following article is part of a collaborative effort by HealthPolicySolutions.org, Education News Colorado and I-News Network that focuses on medical marijuana dispensaries and the use of marijuana in schools. The article below addresses the impact in the Roaring Fork Valley. For complete coverage, visit www.HealthPolicySolutions.org.
Categories: Youth
CN ON: More Schoolyard Drug Sweeps Bust Fewer Students
Hamilton Mountain News, 03 Feb 2012 - Hamilton police are busting fewer students and confiscating less pot despite a steady increase in drug surveillance at city schoolyards. Plainclothes officers conducted 103 random drug sweeps at high schools in 2011, but arrested only 11 students - down from 28 the year before, when there were 30 fewer drug sweeps.
Categories: Youth
US CA: Drug Dogs To Keep Pleasanton High School Students On
Pleasanton Weekly, 03 Feb 2012 - School Board to Vote on New Policy Feb. 28; Searches Could Start Next Day Dogs may be man's best friend, but for some Pleasanton students, in the not-too-distant future, they may be anything but. The Pleasanton school board has approved a plan to allow drug detection dogs to do scent searches of student and teacher parking lots and gym lockers, although the board held off giving final approval until it finalizes its policy to address the issue.
Categories: Youth
US AZ: Legislation Would Make Medical Pot Illegal For Students
Arizona Daily Sun, 01 Feb 2012 - PHOENIX -- State lawmakers are moving today to deny university and college students living on campus the right to use medical marijuana even if they have the legally required doctor's recommendation for the drug. Legislation crafted by Rep. Amanda Reeve, R-Phoenix, would make it illegal not only to use but even to possess marijuana on the campus of any public or private post-secondary institution. That would include not only the state university system and network of community colleges but also various private schools that offer degrees or certificates.
Categories: Youth
US PA: Edu: Column: University Shouldn't Influence Students on
The Globe, 01 Feb 2012 - The Lawrence Hall second-floor hallway is a commonly traveled route. Whether students are hurrying to class or strolling to the Point Cafe, it serves as a showcase for many advertisements pertaining to Point Park University. Movie-poster sized ads are encased along the walls, relaying information for student activities or upcoming deadlines. Last week, one poster stood out from the others. Themed with black and green type and a translucent image of a marijuana leaf, the blown-up poster from Alcohol and Other Drug Education hung in the hallway for a few days. Coincidentally, the poster seemed to appear around the time that The Globe reported the increase of drug use among Point Park students. "Legalize marijuana?" it stated in all capital letters. "It's a plant, so it's natural, right?"
Categories: Youth
US MA: Sheriff's Dept Gives Kids Early Look At Perils Of
Worcester Telegram & Gazette, 31 Jan 2012 - Worcester County Sheriff Lewis G. Evangelidis is on a mission to prevent future drug and alcohol abuse among youths in Worcester County. He is presenting his Face2Face program to students at high schools and middle schools, where he seems to be lobbying to limit overcrowding at the Worcester County Jail and House of Correction in West Boylston.
Categories: Youth
Drugs Not Driving Gang Violence, CDC Says
The popular image of street gang violence in the US as being "drug-related," is largely mistaken, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a report released last Thursday. Other factors, particularly retaliation for ongoing gang violence, are more likely to be at play, the report said in what is the first study based on the CDC's National Violent Death Reporting System.
[image:1 align:right caption:true]The CDC looked at data from 2003 through 2008 to study gang-related killings in 17 states and found the highest rates in five cities: Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Oakland, California, Newark New Jersey, and Oklahoma City. Those cities had 856 gang-related homicides and 2,077 non-gang killings during the period in question.
In Los Angeles and Long Beach, less than 5% of all killings were related to known drug trafficking or use, while in Oakland, only 12.5% of gang killings involved drugs. In Newark, 20% of gang killings involved drugs, while Oklahoma City came in highest with 25.4%.
The numbers show that even in the city with the highest percentage of gang killings blamed on the drug trade or drug use, only about one-quarter of gang killing revolved around drugs. The numbers are similar for non-gang homicides. "Drug-related" killings accounted for little more than one-fifth of all homicides at most, again in Oklahoma City, at 22.8%, but only 16.5% in Oakland, 6% in Newark, and less than 5% in Los Angeles and Long Beach.
"The public often has viewed gangs, drug trade/use, crime, and homicides as interconnected factors; however, studies have shown little connection between gang homicides and drug trade/use and crime," the report's authors wrote in an editorial note. "Gangs and gang members are involved in a variety of high-risk behaviors that sometimes include drug and crime involvement, but gang-related homicides usually are attributed to other circumstances…. Overall, these findings support a view of gang homicides as retaliatory violence. These incidents most often result when contentious gang members pass each other in public places and a conflict quickly escalates into homicide with the use of firearms and drive-by shootings."
The findings could be important for policymakers as they attempt to grapple with the causes of gang violence and how to prevent it. The report suggested concentrating on preventing kids from joining gangs in the first place and helping at risk kids deal with conflict resolution.
"Violence -- including gang homicides -- is a significant public health problem," Linda Degutis, director of the CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, said in a prepared statement. "Investing in early prevention pays off in the long run. It helps youth learn how to resolve conflicts without resorting to violence and keeps them connected to their families, schools and communities, and from joining gangs in the first place."
Categories: Youth
US RI: Edu: Student Group Promotes Responsible Drinking
The Brown Daily Herald, 30 Jan 2012 - The feeling is all too common -- an overwhelming sense of dizziness, compounded by an inability to place one foot in front of the other without stumbling. While this experience is typically induced by heavy drinking, students could mimic the effects of high blood alcohol content using special "beer goggles" at an event Friday sponsored by Students for a Sensible Drug Policy, Health Services and the Greek Council. On a given day, the 15 to 20 members of Brown's chapter of SSDP may be found on the Main Green passing out flyers about the negative effects of government anti-drug efforts, at the Rhode Island State House protesting decisions they believe unfairly discriminate against drug users or in the basement of the Stephen Robert '62 Campus Center educating students on the dangers of alcohol abuse.
Categories: Youth
US MA: Wayland Police Take Pot Candies From Teens
Metrowest Daily News, 27 Jan 2012 - WAYLAND - Talk about a sugar high. Local teens, with help of someone in Colorado, got their hands on Cheeba Chews, a chocolate taffy laced with the substance that gives marijuana its buzz. In December, Wayland Police confiscated a few pieces of the candy from a couple of local teens, Detective Sgt. Jamie Berger said yesterday.
Categories: Youth
US CA: Column: As We Grow, Our Kids Go To Pot
The Press Democrat, 26 Jan 2012 - Marijuana is good, compassionate medicine, it's often said. In hard financial times, pot's a godsend as a homegrown cash crop. And for social users, it's a gentler, healthier alternative to alcohol.
Categories: Youth
US CO: Progress Made In Fight Against Youth Drug Abuse
Delta County Independent, 25 Jan 2012 - There are plenty of successes to celebrate in the community's initiative against youth drug and alcohol use. But many challenges remain. Two of the men who are helping to lead the fight against illicit drug use and underage drinking in the community gave an update on local efforts Wednesday, Jan. 18, in Delta.
Categories: Youth
US NY: Editorial: Parents Key In Lowering Teen Marijuana Use
Daily Messenger, 22 Jan 2012 - Teen marijuana use is a trend that appears to be spreading across the country, and according to Ontario County Undersheriff David Tillman, is also taking hold locally. According to a national survey conducted by the University of Michigan for the National Institute on Drug Abuse, one in every 15 high school seniors reported smoking marijuana on a daily or near-daily basis, the highest rate since 1981. And locally, studies by Evalumetrics Research of Ontario County schools have shown a "slight increase in marijuana use among kids," says consultant Rob Lillis.
Categories: Youth
US CA: Student Defends Instructor
Los Angeles Times, 16 Jan 2012 - Thousand Oaks Teacher Suspended After Police Dogs Found Pot in His Car When the police were leaving a Thousand Oaks high school campus after a routine search of student lockers for contraband, one of their drug-sniffing dogs paused at a vehicle in the staff parking lot.
Categories: Youth
