cannabisnews.com: Stop Pointing Guns at Our Kids
Stop Pointing Guns at Our Kids
Posted by CN Staff on December 09, 2003 at 20:13:22 PT
By Marsha Rosenbaum, AlterNet
Source: AlterNet
As the mother of a teenager, I share the outrage experienced by parents of Stratford High School students, who were recently terrorized by Goose Creek, South Carolina police. In an effort to purge the school of drugs, law enforcement was called in by the administration. After rounding up the students, pointing guns at them, and searching their lockers, no drugs were found. The students, however, were scared to death.
The use of weapons on the Stratford High School campus is testament to the failure of our efforts to stop young people from using drugs, and the frustration experienced by school officials. No parent wants their teenager to use drugs. We should understand, however, that teenage experimentation is not surprising in a country that aggressively advertises alcohol and anti-depressants on prime time TV, rendering these and other kinds of drugs a part of American culture. Teens who experiment with alcohol and other drugs are not necessarily bad kids, nor are their parents necessarily failing to do their job. It's just that in reality, America is not drug free, and neither are our teenagers. Although the incident in Goose Creek was isolated, it was no more successful than any other attempt to keep young people from experimenting with drugs in the last 20 years. As parents, it's one thing to read about our country's War on Drugs. It really hits home, however, when our own children are subjected to the violence that has characterized this failed policy. We tried "just say no," which entered our vernacular in 1980 when marijuana use had already peaked and was on the decline. Still, with Reagan's new "tough on crime" posture and the First Lady's pet project, anti-drug funding (and sentiment) increased sharply. The Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program reached children in 80 percent of school districts across the country. The private sector got involved in the crusade, with the Partnership for a Drug-Free America filling the airwaves with images and warnings. Who could forget the egg-in-the-frying-pan "this is your brain" commercials? By the early 1990s, an American teenager had to be living under a rock to have missed anti-drug messages. But then a strange shift began to occur. Despite universal school-based prevention programs, anti-drug ads, intolerance of illegal drugs, and a "lock 'em up" attitude, national surveys indicated that teenage use of alcohol and other drugs was increasing. Teens, it seemed, were becoming bored, rather than frightened, by fear-based messages about drugs, and bone-tired of admonishments to abstain. Obviously the message wasn't effective, with half of all teens experimenting with illegal drugs, and 80 percent trying alcohol before graduating from high school. As a response to increased alcohol and other drug use among teenagers, and to let them know we meant business, "zero tolerance" policies were implemented in secondary schools across the country. Students were regularly suspended, or even expelled for possession or use of a range of substances, including Tylenol and Midol. Drug-sniffing dogs were unleashed on campuses in an effort to locate drugs, and to further "send a message." The tentacles of the growing urine testing industry reached teenagers when the testing of athletes became de rigeur in the mid-1990s. Recently the Supreme Court ruled that student drug testing is legal for all extracurricular activities, and the Office of National Drug Control Policy is pushing the testing of all secondary school students (to the delight of the drug testing industry, and with no evidence that it actually works to deter drug use). For many American teenagers, the Fourth Amendment of our Bill of Rights has become an historical artifact. Not to mention that in America we are all supposed to be presumed innocent until proven guilty, not the other way around. But there is another way. While government agencies continue to devise increasingly harsh policies to no avail, real parents in the real world living with real teenagers, myself among them, are looking at pragmatic alternatives to zero tolerance. Today's parents, like those in Goose Creek, are skeptical of policies that demonize and frighten their teenagers without ensuring their health, well-being, and safety. If total abstinence isn't a realistic alternative, we want our teens to be educated about drugs by giving them scientific, honest information, not exaggerated claims designed (unsuccessfully) to scare them. We want school policies that protect students without jeopardizing the future of those who make immature mistakes. We want counseling and support, rather than humiliation, suspension, expulsion, or, as in the case of Stratford High, violence. Our children's safety should be top priority when it comes to educating them about drugs. Pointing guns at their heads is not the answer. Marsha Rosenbaum, PhD, directs the Safety First drug education project at the Drug Policy Alliance in San Francisco.URL: http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17334Newshawk: VirgilSource: AlterNet (US)Author: Marsha Rosenbaum, AlterNetPublished: December 08, 2003Copyright: 2003 Independent Media InstituteContact: letters alternet.org Website: http://www.alternet.org/Feedback: http://www.alternet.org/feedback.htmlRelated Articles & Web Sites:Safety Firsthttp://www.safety1st.org/Drug Policy Alliancehttp://www.drugpolicy.org/Raid At School Leads To Racial Dividehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17944.shtml17 Students File Suit Over School Drug Raid http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17923.shtmlStratford Students File Suit http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17922.shtml
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Comment #12 posted by FoM on January 05, 2004 at 13:10:37 PT
Jose
I think when you post the same link all the time it might be confusing the search tool. It isn't bringing up articles about the raid very well but it seems to be bringing up your link too when I type in Goose Creek even if it isn't about Goose Creek.
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Comment #11 posted by jose melendez on January 05, 2004 at 12:57:31 PT
testing . . .
http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/local/7638263.htmhttp://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1587258&nav=0RaPJzbm
test this!
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Comment #10 posted by jose melendez on January 05, 2004 at 12:50:40 PT
re: comment #9!
See what happens when you speak out long and loudly enough?Fuel, Fiber, Food, Farm-aceutical, Fantastic, Future, Fact:'F' the drug war!See also: http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article?id=2451120 . . . On a routine anti-drugs raid, the police say they saw a man run into Banton's studio, bawling, "Police!" so they followed him in. The officers say they asked to search the premises and all the people present. But Buju, well-known for his mercurial temper, refused and told them they had to get a warrant. One of the officers told the Jamaica Observer afterwards that the head of the St Andrew North Division, Superintendent Assan Thompson, didn't take too kindly to Buju's attitude. "Buju behaved disrespectfully... Him say we can't just come inna him private property and come search up him brethren dem," the policeman said. "Him can't chat to police so, especially in front of the big superintendent." This may or may not explain initial false reports that the police had found 30 fully grown plants, after arresting Buju for smoking a spliff in public. In any event, the 30-year-old, whose latest album, Friends For Life, has been nominated for a Grammy award, appeared in court a few days later and pleaded not guilty to charges of possession and cultivation of marijuana. It turns out the police found only two plants. He was granted bail of Ja$150,000 (TT$15,000) and will appear in court on January 7. No mention was made of his licensed firearm and ammunition, which had been seized.
"Smoking marijuana to me is not something that is taken casually," Buju said in an interview last August while on a UK tour to promote Friends For Life. "To me it's a divine thing. My first time smoking marijuana I was about 14 years old, 15 years old. Just taking a one draw, yuh know, and the experience was one where your eyes was immediately opened to things that maybe you were blinded to."
scared yet?
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Comment #9 posted by FoM on January 05, 2004 at 12:22:35 PT
News Brief from The Associated Press
Principal at Drug-Raid High School to Be ReassignedAssociated PressJanuary 5, 2004MONCKS CORNER, S.C. - Following a November drug sweep in which police with guns drawn ordered Stratford High students to the floor, Berkeley County School District officials announced Monday that Principal George McCrackin had resigned."I realized it is in the best interest of Stratford High School and of my students for me to make a change," McCrackin said.District Superintendent J. Chester Floyd said he had had several conversations with McCrackin and that the decision to reassign him came last weekend."These past 60 days have been extremely challenging and pressure filled, particularly for Mr. McCrackin," Floyd said. "His decision reiterates his commitment to doing what's best for the school and the students at all times."Floyd has not decided to what position McCrackin will be reassigned, but he said McCrackin would probably spend time in the coming weeks preparing for two lawsuits filed by students stemming from the incident.School officials asked Goose Creek police to come into the school Nov. 5 after receiving reports of marijuana sales on campus. Police said dogs sniffed drug residue on 12 book bags but found no drugs. No one was arrested.
Copyright: 2004 Associated Press
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Comment #8 posted by jose melendez on December 11, 2003 at 16:33:28 PT
the racists are overworked - lets take their jobs!
http://www.news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2182659http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2003/11/18/2003076312http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/28/34145.htmlhttp://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/11/16/1068917667171.html
caffeine pumping, gun wielding uniformed punks
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Comment #7 posted by yippierevolutionary on December 11, 2003 at 14:08:26 PT
John Wayne your on to the trend in America
In Amerika today the fascist thought police do not allow for real opposing sides. Every debate in the lead up to the war in Iraq was basically the same. You had the people screaming nuke Iraqis and "opposition" saying Nuke Iraqis with UN approval. Look at Hannity and Colmes, Hannity is just shy of being a nazi and Colmes is a moderate. PC thought does not allow you to say Cannabis is good and should be free for everyone if your arguing for legalization. You are only allowed to say Of course marijuana is bad and we don't want people smoking it but the laws aren't working. The fascists frame the debate and make you discuss it on their terms ie marijuana makes you retarded and Saddam is a bad guy because he killed thousands of his own people and had WMD. The terms of the debate dont let you say he slaughtered with our blessing and the WMD he had we gave him at least not on TV or in big newspapers or magazines.PS one thing I have never seen in the media when talking about the absence of WMD in Iraq is that Saddam was telling the truth, he did disarm! He was not violating UN resolutions! Saddam Hussein has more credibility than the Busch Administration
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Comment #6 posted by john wayne on December 11, 2003 at 01:03:47 PT
Sorry, Max, I really don't think so
There will be a "trial" or a "hearing", there will be a lot of "pro" (the police must be supported) and "con" (well, could they throw the students to the ground a little *softer* maybe?) in the newspaper and television and then the cops involved will be "acquitted" or "exonerated" and then they will do it again. Maybe not in the same school or even school district, but the eternal brotherhood of little-boys-in-mens-bodies, rambo-wannabe, black-suited, jack-booted assualt teams will prevail again. And next time, they'll make sure the cameras are off before they start the assault.
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Comment #5 posted by ekim on December 10, 2003 at 18:21:35 PT
Goose Creek School Apologize for raid
Cnn Anderson Cooper 360 made the statement, I do not know if it was the Princpal.
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Comment #4 posted by jose melendez on December 10, 2003 at 18:02:03 PT
Where are the other tapes?
Finally, someone asks: Where are the other tapes?http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1900/a04.html?397
bust these crooks
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Comment #3 posted by Richard Paul Zuckerm on December 10, 2003 at 09:01:51 PT:
LEARN ABOUT POLICE BEFORE YOU TAKE A POSITION!
Prior to your opinion on police, you SHOULD read the law review article entitled ARE COPS CONSTITUTIONAL?, by Roger Roots, 2001 Seton Hall Constitutional Law Journal 685, easily downloadable from www.constitution.org/lrev/roots/cops.htm.I am suing liar cops, Richard Paul Zuckerman, Plaintiff vs. Borough Of Highland Park, et al., Defendants, Docket Number MID-L-3743-00, with a motion to place this lawsuit on the active list, scheduled for next Friday, December 19, 2003, presided over by Nicholas J. Stroumtsos, Jr., J.S.C., (Telephone number)(732) 981-3102. The Highland Park Public Library, (telephone number)(732) 572-2750, implemented a policy that we may only use the public pay telephone for up to 3 minutes, even when nobody is waiting to use the phone. I stayed on longer. Nobody was waiting for the phone. 3 Highland Park policemen arrested me for refusal to produce identification ["obstruction of justice"], "disorderly conduct", and illegal possession of an 8 inch dagger found in my backpack after being arrested. The Grand Jury refused to indict me. The only conviction from the incident is the COMPLETELY FABRICATED "disorderly conduct," for which I am paying the $130 fine in $30/month installments. Thankfully, I found cases holding that a municipal court conviction is INADMISSIBLE in a civil case, e.g., Trisuzzi v. Tabatchnik, 285 N.J.Super. 15, 25, 666 A.2d 543 (App. Div. 1995), and I want to get this state civil rights case to trial so I can show the civil JURY all of the discrepancies and contradictions in the police testimony, to ask for HUGE PUNITIVE DAMAGES against this lying jackals!! This is why I want you all to read the above listed law review article. You must understand that municipal police are intended to protect THE GOVERNMENT, not you!! Read the article, please? And do not believe everything you have been taught in government schools, www.johntaylorgatto.com???!!Richard Paul Zuckerman, Box 159, Metuchen, New Jersey, 08840-0159, (Cell telephone number)(908) 403-6990, richardzuckerman2002 yahoo.com;
www.aclu-nj.org; www.fromthewilderness.com; www.jpfo.org; www.greenparty.org; www.fija.org; www.normlnj.org; www.norml.org; www.hightimes.com; www.cannabisculture.com;
Diploma in Paralegal, New York University, 2003;
Diploma in Truck Driving, Smith & Solomon School of Truck Driving, Edison, New Jersey, 1995;
B.A. in Political Science, Kean College of New Jersey [now named Kean University], 1987.
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Comment #2 posted by Arthropod on December 10, 2003 at 07:59:56 PT:
The Raid Video
Does anyone know where to find the high quality version of the Stratford High raid video? I haven't been able to find the video at all, let alone in high quality.
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Comment #1 posted by Max Flowers on December 09, 2003 at 22:44:25 PT
Ground level video is horrible
Tonight I saw the better quality video of the raid. I don't know whether it was shot by the police (spits on ground in disgust) or someone from the school but it clearly shows the traitorous thugs terrorizing the students, yelling at them not to move while they lay there cuffed up with those plastic cuffs. It's perfect evidence of their crime caight on tape. They--the cops and the school district and principal---are going to pay dearly for this.MF
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