SCHOOL'S BACK AND SO IS THE SMELL: MARIJUANA IN THE BATHROOM

Editor's Note: This is one in an ongoing series of columns written
by local high-school seniors, High-School Confidential, that run in
our Saturday and Monday editions.

The past few weeks have been just lovely while they lasted.

Clean and waxed floors, fresh air, a distinct absence of flies or
other pests have made my school experience a hundred times more enjoyable.

Of course, every honeymoon must come to an end. I was hoping -- in
the darkest recesses of my heart -- that perhaps I wouldn't have to
smell it this year.

I clung to the forlorn hope that maybe, just maybe Principal
Manley's speech at the beginning of the year had some effect on
those select individuals.

This was not to be.

I sat, perfectly happy and content in my Spanish class, reciting
adjectives back to my teacher when I smelled it.

That sickly sweet, disgustingly heavy and intoxicating scent that
makes me want to run to the Nurse's office for my inhaler every time
it passes beneath my nose.

Pot. Marijuana. Mary--Jane. I can't understand those people who feel
the urge to light up any of the aforementioned drugs in the school
bathrooms. I can't understand anyone who does drugs, for that
matter. These addicts are different from most others.

Why?

They're the only ones whose drug habits affect those around them.

If you drink alcohol, there's only a smell. If you shoot up, it's in
your bloodstream -- not mine.

If you smoke, there's a chance someone will start to have trouble breathing.

There have been times in previous years when I've had to run for the
Nurse's Office for my inhaler because a smoker's joint triggered an
asthma attack.

I don't care what you do in your life. Want to smoke your life away?
Go ahead. Feel like lighting up legal or illegal substances outside?
Be my guest. I'm not a police officer or your mother: I can't -- and
don't want to -- tell you how to live your life outside of school.

However, the minute you step inside the school you must change.

It's a felony to have drugs inside the school. It's a crime to smoke
in the bathrooms or anywhere on school property.

The second your drugs begin wafting into my classroom is the second
you loose your right to privacy.

I don't need nor want to rant on the dangers of second--hand smoke.
I don't want to beat you over the head with the endless tirade about
smoking. I don't want to do any of that.

I just want someone, maybe even the girl or boy who lit up in the
freshman--hall bathroom during my Spanish class to stop and think,
'Can I get through a school day without inhaling smoke?

Can I live for seven hours without my drug of choice?' The answer
should be a 'Yes', without any hesitation whatsoever.

Don't think you can do it?

Try planning for the future. If you smoke on the job in a
'substance--free' zone, you won't get a detention or suspension. You
won't be sent home with a letter for your parents.

You'll be fired.

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www.sentinelandenterprise.com and let us know what you thought of
Marisa's column.