Nov 22, 2007

Don't talk about drugs on campus.

Last week in Round Rock, just north of Austin, a high school newspaper published a story claiming that drug use was common at the high school.

The Principle of the school removed the paper from circulation citing issues of "journalistic integrity" as her reasoning. She wrote a letter to parents to let them know that she was making sure the journalism students were on their toes.

I found that the content and sources could not be validated, that information from school counselors were misrepresented, and that it was not even known if the student sources even existed as the names used were aliases. I was very disappointed that rules of good journalism were not in place and that the approval system failed as well.
Uhh huh. It couldn't be that one of the allegations was that a common drug being dealt on campus was the Ritalin that was handed out like candy by school health administrators to students diagnosed with ADD and ADHD. It probably couldn't be that the article claimed that school officials knew of the drug dealing and turned a blind eye to it.

Nah...they pulled the paper from circulation because it was a case of bad journalism.

Prescription pills are popular for school-related issues. Many teens diagnosed with ADD or ADHD sell their Aderol, Ritalin and Hydrocodine. Some students believe that pills help them to better focus and concentrate on school work.

Local AM radio station KLBJ posted the principle's letter and the original article on their web site. I graduated in 1981 when the biggest drug war push was just beginning. The student's article here mirrors what I saw in high school and that was 25 years ago. Except for one thing: back then there was nobody in my school being prescriped Ritalin and other drugs for these pseudo disorders.

The drug war has obviously failed miserably if its intent was to rid society of dangerous drugs. If its intent was to turn us all into watched sheep, it has been wildly successful. Now it would appear to also be affecting our right to talk about it.

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