Smoking Pot in School

Young people make mistakes too. Apparently a 17-year-old student in Purdy, Washington smoked a joint during a presentation he was giving concerning the legalization of marijuana. His subsequent arrest may have made him a martyr, but it may not have been the wisest way of getting the message across. Regardless of where you fall on the issue of legalizing marijuana, I would hope we can agree that there is little active campaigning a student can do in jail.

This is not to say he was not a bright student, with a 3.7 GPA, it only means he probably should have known better. There are plenty of other (legal) ways to get the point across. One could argue that if the laws regarding marijuana possession and use weren't so draconian he wouldn't be in that predicament, but by all accounts, this was a school building he was doing it in, and certainly not a place to be lighting up, legal or not.

He then finished his essay, sat down, finished smoking the joint and then ate the end after it was fully smoked. The teacher of the class contacted the school resources officer, a Pierce County sheriff's deputy, who found a small residual amount of marijuana on the student, Troyer said.

The reason, in case you were wondering, this blog is called "Puerile Psyche" is to point out the rather immature, or "puerile" way society conducts itself with children and young people. Often society will do things for the supposed benefit of its children that are actually harmful or destructive to them, or go contrary to their own stated purposes.

The fact is young people are part of society, and they also do things against their own better interests. Sometimes these mistakes are not their fault, but are only mistakes because adults have deemed them illegal (any status crime law). And sometimes their mistakes can only be put down to the same all-too-human poor judgment.

I personally believe marijuana laws are far too restrictive when comparing the damage caused by many legal substances to that of pot, but there are more effective ways of getting the message across. This is not so much a youth issue, as it would be illegal for anyone to be found with pot in public, but certainly a useful bit a wisdom can be gained. Challenge authority, and don't do anything that'll keep you from challenging it.