SCHOOLS DECISION TO MUZZLE STUDENT SETS BAD EXAMPLE

A form of reefer madness has hit the tiny town of Wawota, where the
principal of the local Parkland School recently suspended a
15-year-old student who shared with friends his view that marijuana is
less harmful than alcohol or tobacco.

Grade 10 honours student Kieran King says the principal, Susan Wilson,
threatened him with police action, and reportedly accused him of using
and selling drugs at the school after he did some independent research
into marijuana and decided to share his findings with other students.

"In my opinion, cannabis is safer than they say, it is not worse than
alcohol or tobacco," says King, who insists he's not a pot-head and is
willing to take a drug test to prove it.

"I've never smoked marijuana. I've never even seen
it."

When King, who felt the principal had violated his right to free
speech by asking him to stop sharing his views with other students,
tried to organize a walkout at the school, the school went into
lock-down mode, with teachers standing at doorways and threatening to
punish any student who left.

Four students walked out, among them Kieran and his brother,
Lucas.

While the King boys received three-day suspensions, the other two
students returned to school and avoided punishment.

The suspension meant Kieran King, who was scheduled to leave for China
on Thursday to attend a course, would miss his final exams.

His mother Jo Ann Buler, who is teacher within the school division
that oversees Wawota School, is trying to negotiate with the school to
have his final exams faxed to the Canadian embassy in Shanghai, but
even if Kieran misses out on the 30 per cent, his marks now in the 80s
and 90s are enough that he won't flunk Grade 10.

"The main purpose wasn't cannabis. It was the defence of freedom of
speech. I believe we have a right to freedom of expression. I don't
believe in vulgarity," he offered.

While it likely didn't help the youth's case when pro-marijuana
activists showed up in the town of 500 to wave signs and shout into
megaphones, King was absolutely right to defend his actions.

Unless the principal had evidence the boy was selling drugs -- his
mother is adamant that, "I know my children don't smoke, drink or take
drugs" -- she had no business either levelling the charge or trying to
muzzle him from sharing his opinion, one that certainly isn't an
outlandish exception in society today.

An education institution whose objective should be to foster
independent thinking and research to mold bright young minds shouldn't
be trying to herd kids' behind some line of intellectual conformity.