Recently I heard about this interesting story on the radio I think. Anyways i went home and looked it up to get the whole story It involves this drug prevention program called D.A.R.E. that visits schools around the country to do lessons on drugs in order to prevent kids from using them. So after visiting a NC elementary school to do a "lesson" on Marijuana, one of the students, a 5th grader to be precise, came back the next day with a baggie of weed. The weed had been stolen from his parents and he had brought it to school in order to turn it in to the school officer.
As a result of this, the parents have been arrested and charged with possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia but weren't jailed on the condition that they appear in court. Furthermore, the 5th grader and his sister have been removed from their parents house by social services at the moment and are living with relatives.
For me this story was a little shocking. I mean first of all what could these D.A.R.E. people have said that made this child feel like he had to go home and find his parents stash of weed to turn them in. On the other hand if your the parents how can you if plan to have some marijuana in a house with children allow it to be in a place where your kid could find it and access it. Overall, I'm kind of looking forward to hear the whole story and to see how this plays out with the kids as well. I mean I don't want to see them taken away from their parents but if the weed was just lying out on the coffee table for example I think there maybe some repercussions. Lastly, I was thinking while reading this further if I could or would turn my parents or family in for something like this or similar. Personally, I don't think I could. But what about y'all could you turn them in for something similar? or any crime at all?
7 comments:
I have to commend the 5 year old for being so courageous! it's awesome to see children who listen to the law and obey it without considering the consequences and without discriminating about who they turn in. Honestly, if I were to find out, currently, that my parents or relatives or siblings were druggies and psychopathic SOB's I wouldn't hesitate to get the law involved because once they were taken away, I wouldn't have to deal with them anymore. I don't mean to see callous, but there it is.
This kid does have some audacity. In my opinion, I wouldn't turn in my parents. I mean, you're basically separating yourself from people who gave birth to you and took care of you for ten years in this kid's case. In all honesty, I think he just turned the weed in without really grasping the true consequences for his actions--ruining his parents' lives, humileation and from the media, and most of all, separation from the people who love and care for him the most. Although yes, I agree with Tim that his parents may be SOB's, I don't think the kid knows the extent to how much he is going to hurt himself and his family. I personally wouldn't have turned in my parents because if the D.A.R.E program did a thorough job, I'm sure they would have told the kid about the consequences one gets for having drugs, although my opinion does come from the perspective of someone who is more aware of the consequences of having illegal substances.
Okay, this is a little ridiculous.
I personally would not turn in my parents. I think as children, we are biased in that we want to protect our parents, even if that means lying to the law. In this situation, I feel as though it really comes down to the morals of the issues, regarding both drugs and the legal system. Honestly, the marijuana that the 5th grader found is not that big of a deal and is not worth turning your parents in for. There are worst kinds of drugs, such as cocaine and methamphetamine, which result in much greater charges as well as greater health issues. Clearly the parents were in no way abusing substances and as far as severity of hard drugs go, marijuana is most definitely not in the top five or so. In addition, I feel as though in the long run, the fifth grader is going to regret his decision of turning in his parents, especially since now he AND his sister were taken away by social services. The impact of losing parents is much greater than the impact of finding marijuana in the household. I'm curious to see how things will turn out for the family in the future.
As soon as I read this, I was reminded of that part in 1984 by George Orwell where children are encouraged to turn in their parents if they hear them speaking out against the government.
Now, I know the 1984 example is quite different from this D.A.R.E one, but both leave me conflicted. On the one hand, I think it's good for this little boy to recognize law-breaking and to take action to stop it.
However, on the other hand, I know that I wouldn't turn in my parents/ family (at least not without talking to them repeatedly about it). I think that in being encouraged to turn his parents in, this little boy now has ruined his relationship with them. He will also probably have a difficult time trusting his foster parents or anyone else who takes care of him.
I don't think he should have been encouraged or rewarded to turn his parents in. It is kind of similar to 1984, in which kids are encouraged to break their ties with their parents in order to "better society" or hold true to the law. (Although, in 1984, the parents turned out to be happy with their kids for following such rules!)
I, however, do find myself conflicted, as I know that that was probably not a safe environment for him to be in. Yet I do think by turning kids against their parents, people are actually doing more harm than good by making kids be suspicious of their parents and many adults to come.
-Alice Bebbington
I just find it so infuriating that some people continue to smoke weed when they become parents. I somewhat understand teenagers and college-kids smoking – without a developed frontal lobe, feeling indestructible, succumbing to peer pressure, and doing things that “feel good.” But once a person becomes a parent – once they are responsible for another human being – it’s time to call it quits. What kind of message are they sending to their child if they smoke pot? That when life gets rough, all you have to do is light up and forget about your problems for a little while? If the child gets involved with drugs – possibly ones that are more dangerous – would the parents have the authority to try to tell the kid to stop? Talk about hypocrisy. If a person wants to mess with their own body and mind, I guess we have to let them. But once that choice begins to affect others, especially the next generation of Americans, some line has to be drawn. As horrible as it is to take children away from their parents, maybe if D.A.R.E. began cracking down on more people, irresponsible parents would get the message and put down the pot.
-Jessia Hoffman
I find this shocking and interesting!!! I think that the young boy acted bravely and apparently knew what he was doing when he turned his parents in. If I were to find out that my parents have weed in the house, right now, I don't think I would turn them in, but maybe if I were younger like the boy, then maybe I would have because I wouldn't really know what I'm doing, personally, I don't think I would know what I was doing. I wonder what the young boy will react to what he has done when he's our age and realizes what he did to his parents at such a young age.
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