TREAT DRUG USERS LIKE DRUG USERS, NOT KIDS

To the editor: I am a freshman at Tuscola High School School. The men
and women that work at Tuscola are really great and I would never try
to put down a school official that works there. The problem is, that
recently Tuscola had a lock down and the school officials searched
for drugs. If you don't know what a lock down is, it's when school
officials make you stay in your classroom while they bring the drug
dog around looking for drugs. The drug dog was there for two days,
but we were only on lock down for one day. What I really don't
understand is why school officials would lock down a school and
search for drugs when they don't even do anything to the kids that
they found illegal stuff on except suspend them. I agree kids should
be given second chances, but when are they supposed to draw the line?
Bringing drugs to school and getting out-of-school suspension? The
only message I see school officials are trying to give out to kids
who have a drug problem and bring them to school is that it's OK to
bring drugs to school, because all you'll get if you do is a slap on
the wrist and a vacation. If teenagers make the lame decision to
bring drugs to school then I think that it should automatically be a
10- to 20-day suspension, along with drug rehab help, and community
service or a punishment like that.

A parent's worst nightmare is to see their teenage kid with a drug
problem. I even hate to see kids my own age with a bad drug problem,
so why not stop it and make the punishment larger?

The teenagers at Tuscola get treated like children and sometimes they
shouldn't. If an adult walked on to Tuscola property with drugs then
there wouldn't be no slap on the wrist. They would go straight to
jail and have more charges pending.

I honestly thought Tuscola was a drug free school. But I guess I was
wrong about that too.

Amanda Carver

Waynesville