Posted on 04/02/2009 5:14:02 AM PDT by metmom
A teen and the parents of two elementary school boys face child endangerment charges after officials at the youngsters' school reported the pair had smoked marijuana.
State trooper RaeAnn Hickok, the school resource officer for the Central Square school district, was called March 24 to investigate an incident of possible marijuana use by two pupils at Cleveland Elementary School.
Hickcok's investigation revealed the boys, ages 7 and 8, had smoked marijuana after finding it at their home.
On Tuesday, troopers charged James M. Tysco, 33, and Christine M. Miczek, 34, both of 387 Whipple Road, Bernhards Bay, with endangering the welfare of a child.
(Excerpt) Read more at syracuse.com ...
The people I’ve seen become potheads can only thing about where their next high is coming from, where their next drink is coming from, and when they’re going to get laid next.
Just because something doesn’t seem to harm you physically in direct obvious ways, like smoking and alcohol do, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t harm you in other ways. The physical is not all there is to in life.
Why don't we let kids drive, drink, have sex or shoot firearms alone? All legal for adults. All dangerous if you are not responsible.
It's not the potentially dangerous activity that causes harm but the irresponsible person. And irresponsible adults should be punished.
Kids cannot be held to the same standard as adults and must be watched until they are responsible. This is essentially what the government is doing. The drug war assumes all adults are children that need a nanny.
By labeling one activity as "dangerous", the government will go down the line to the next. They are already targeting our fast food, candy and soda. Heck, NYC effectively outlawed certain cakes and cookies with the transfat ban.
I'm not sure about you, but I'm pretty tired of being treated like a child because it's "for the children".
It's also possible to kill or injure someone when sober. The probability of that happening is probably even more than when "stoned". "Stoned" people sit at home with friends 99% of the time. They might eat an extra muffin or choke from laughing too hard but that's the most dangerous activity you'd want to do when "stoned".
The 1% of idiots that drive dead-stoned or operate dangerous machinery should be shot. Those are dangerous activities that should be prosecuted. Smoking pot and sitting with friends should not.
I'm 100% for personal responsibility but I'm tired of the government treating all people like children "for the children".
I doubt that.
I used to work the graveyard shift as a McD's near a bar strip. Those guys were out and about, both drunk and stoned. I've met plenty of people who were out in that condition.
The other problem is that the *stoned* behavior was not only when they had been actively smoking. Unlike drinking when the alcohol wears off, potheads don't bounce back to normal. The effects on the brain seems to be far more long lasting as far as judgment and co-ordination, and ability to think clearly than with alcohol.
Not buying that marijuana is harmless.
B.S. I’m 46 now and still know guys I went to high school with who ‘indulge’. They do everything I do in life but do it high on dope. Drive to work, take the kids to school, do the shopping, etc... The difference is, I do it with a CLEAR mind and they do it all in a fog. And yes, they constantly do STUPID things like ...oh, forget to pick up the kids today?... “oh Sh@#!!” What’s that burning on the stove, dude? “Oh Sh@#!!!” It never ends.
Tell me again that smoking dope is good and should be legalized and doesn’t harm anybody...
The idea that it’s Okay for ‘responsible’ adults but it’s vewey baaad for kids is nuts. I’m in NO way saying it’s okay for kids. Which is why it’s also a bad thing for adults. Those who indulge obviously have problems they are unequipped to handle AS adults and I don’t consider to be responsible adults.
-Smoking stuff to put your brain cells to sleep, thus rendering yourself virtually useless as a human being is no way to live, son.
Exactly. The key word is people. They became "potheads" because of their own addictive and irresponsible personality. They are addicted to booze and sex just as much. Should we prosecute responsible drinking and sex because some people are irresponsible?
The physical is not all there is to in life.
Whose life? If all someone enjoys in life is a stupid dry plant without harming anyone and it makes them happy, why should we lock them up? There are people who devote their entire life to bottlecaps, stamps, cars, careers, jewelry, plastic surgery, hoarding, etc. Should we prosecute them because we think there should be more in THEIR life? Should we ban EVERYTHING that some people get addicted to?
People that put other people in harm's way should be prosecuted. Growing a plant in your backyard and smoking it at home does not put anyone in harm's way(unless the DEA drug warriors unconstitutionally trample state law and shoot you or your dog along the way).
I have NEVER met a single person that doesn't smoke because it's illegal or they can't get it.
In fact, if you ask non-users of ANY drug, most will say they DON'T do it because of their own free will, responsibility and/or that they don't enjoy it. Not because of laws or prohibition.
Prohibition does NOTHING to stop people that want drugs. It only changes how much and who they pay to get them.
It isn't a matter of IF you are a fool, it is just what kind of fool you are.
Who said anything about pot being harmless? So you are setting up your straw man argument, but I'm not biting at the bait.
And since you have to ask why kids shouldn't be smoking pot it just goes to prove you are too stupid for me to continue on this conversation.
Good bye.
Homeschool kids can go hang out with their neighborhood friends and get introduced to pot, cigs, alchohol, and sex just like any public school kid can.
And if you think about it, I’ll bet you know all kinds of people you wouldn’t want homeschooling their kids.
Those who do homeschool or privately school their children are essentially paying a ransom. These parents pay extra ( in addition to their government school tax) so that their children can leave the choking grasp of the government! Some have called homeschooling and private schooling expenses a “Freedom of Conscience and Religion Tax”.
Those parents who can not afford to ransom their children **MUST** attend their government indoctrination camp. If they don't they will subjected to: letters, then school workers, finally police and court action and possible imprisonment. If they resist to a sufficiently high level the police will kill them.
So....These kids came to school drugged. Some poor kid will be ( and has been) FORCED by the government to sit next to these kids. This is a violation of the child and the parents’ First Amendment right to free association.
While homeschoolers may encounter drug abusing kids in the neighborhood, government workers are not FORCING it on them.
Government schools are a First Amendment abomination! They violate freedom of speech, free practice of religion, press and FREE ASSOCIATION!
I think you miss my point...I’m supportive of those who wish to homeschool, but hold in contempt those who cop the holier than thou attitude about it...they aren’t necessarily better partents or better people or more caring or more loving. I personally know a homeschooled man who is just getting out of prison and he has about a third grade education.
Private schools have all the same social problems of public schools only they don’t have the direct force of law behind them. And as long as there are compulsory school laws on the books, it doesn’t matter where the kid goes to school, the government compells the parents to school the kids. Public, private, or home.
Something that I beleive about public schools is that they are reflective of the community, therefore GIGO. Solid communities with solid values tend to have solid public schools, and yes, I have seen them. Communities that have crappy schools also tend to have crappy values.
The government has forced, and will force, children into **involuntary** assembly with these drugies. This is a First Amendment violation of our God-given right to free assembly.
Government schools are a First Amendment and freedom of conscience abomination.
I did not miss your point, nor did Eagle Eye.
You obviously missed my point in my original post, which was the druggies these kids were “forced” to assemble with were their PARENTS..........in was, in fact, your hated public school system that may just have been the saving grace in this particular situation.
Eagle Eye and I both have a FAR better grasp of the reality of public schools than you can imagine and no amount of your caterwauling is going to change that simple fact.
I have said it before, and I will say it again, it is people like you who give homeschoolers a bad name and I thank goodness every day that my friends who homeschool have shown me that you are the exception, rather than the rule, when it comes to the attitude of homeschoolers toward those that have chosen other options.
Get over yourself, your arguments are borderline absurd in trying to stretch compulsory education into a First Amendment violation...children really don’t have Constitutional rights anyway.
And before you argue, tell me about their right to vote or right to keep and bear arms.
Public school is sometimes the place problem kids go when they get kicked out of private schools.
Private schools are sometimes the place kids go when their parents realize their are in trouble or not acheiving in public school.
Home schooling is sometimes the place where kids go because they are too fragile for any sort of mainstream activities, cannot handle being in public, or their parents are freakin’ whackos who see boogey men behind every tree and end up raising weird little children.
Having had children in six or seven different public school systems, having been a military recruiter who dealt with the inner politics of school systems, and having worked in and had kids in a pair of private Christian schools I feel fairly qualified to discuss the topic.
At the best, you have homeschoolers who have at least one dedicated parent who is capable of ensuring the kids actually get a well rounded education. This parent must also know their own shortcomings, i.e. calculus or chemistry, etc.
I know how effective home schooling can be; I taught a 3rd grader linear equations in less than a week while he was home with tonsilitis.
But in all honesty, I don’t want to homeschool a group of kids. It is more than a commitment, it is a lifestyle and I can GUARANTEE that you know people you do not want to homeschool their kids...kinda hard to pass on education and values that you yourself do not possess!
Private school parents are OFTEN the type that like to solve problems by writing checks then letting others do the work. They are also some of the most stuck up of parents. But there are still drug, sex, and violence problems there, students and teachers, but most of it never makes the papers. Private schools have lots of problems and can screw kids up in wholesale batches, and those parents are doing so voluntarily and paying for the priveledge!
I’ve seen a public school system where I had to read almost everything the kids brought home, sometimes challenging the assignments or getting alternate materials, so I have seen some of the liberal crap that comes down the pike.
But I’ve also had kids graduate from a school that had TWO nationally competitive rifle teams, required students to take and pass the citizenship exam, had state contenders in several sports and other activities....imo when a school seeks and acheives excellence in several categories it is unlikely that any critical area is overlooked. On the other hand, schools that cannot or will not acheive excellence often neglect critical areas.
Schools are reflective of thier communities; bottom line is still garbage in garbage out. Not PC, but accurate.
Unless the parents can ransom their children from the government school, the government can and will use **force** to compell other children to sit next to these drugies.
Our First Amendment recognized our God-given right to free association....except in the government indoctrination camps.
You did not present a point to counter. You chose a strawman, something you so enjoy accusing others of doing, yet remain blind to your own similar transgressions.
Children do not have First Amendment rights.
But many, if not most, libertarians (small l) are big on both.
Children do not have First Amendment rights.
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Neither do prisons.
Our government schools treat children ( who have committed no crime) like prisoners.
There is a solution:
Complete separation of school and state. Vouchers, tax credits, and charters would assist the transition.
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