DUTCH STUDENT SENT HOME AFTER DRUG BUST

A Dutch foreign exchange student learned about the long arm of the law
Thursday when it yanked him out of math class for something that wouldn't
have gotten a second look back home.

Tobias Stinjs, 18, was arrested on the Judson High School campus by
Universal City police and charged with possession of drug paraphernalia, Lt.
Charles Dewey said.

Stinjs came to Texas in August to spend his junior year at Judson, where he
was a varsity soccer player.

But Thursday's arrest will cut his stay short, said Judy Coles, South Texas
state coordinator for the American Intercultural Student Exchange Service.

"His visa is terminated, and he's being sent home," Coles said. "He's being
sent home in disgrace."

Stinjs' host parent called police Nov. 2, suspecting his mail from back home
contained more than warm wishes.

Authorities turned up nothing after monitoring his mail for two weeks, but a
search of his room turned up a substantial stash of evidence.

"It's evident he's been smoking for quite some time," Dewey said.

Besides small amounts of marijuana and hashish, police discovered rolling
papers and other paraphernalia, including "blunts"-cigars stuffed with pot.

Dewey said Stinjs' supply came from both sides of the Atlantic.

"He was getting small amounts of marijuana sent to him" from the
Netherlands, Dewey said.

While not legal in his home country, marijuana is decriminalized there, said
Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the
Reform of Marijuana Laws.

Dutch law lets coffee shops sell up to 5 grams of marijuana to people over
age 16, he said.

Coles said Stinjs was told more than once during his orientation that
marijuana is illegal in the United States.

"My quick answer to this is: You're not in the Netherlands. You're in the
United States," she said.

Dewey wants exchange students to know that breaking the law has a price.

"There's a lot at stake," he said. "If they violate the laws like this,
they're going back home."

Stinjs was charged with one count of possession of drug paraphernalia, a
class C misdemeanor that carries a fine of up to $200 on conviction, Dewey
said.

Checked-by: Don Beck