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A District Judge, the Illinois Attorney General's office, and Schaumburg School District 54 have agreed to exempt an 11-year-old from an Illinois law prohibiting medically prescribed cannabis at schools:
In a decision that may have sweeping effects, a judge has allowed an 11-year-old Illinois girl to use medical marijuana at school.
Medical marijuana is legal in Illinois, and it is against current law for students to use it in school or have school nurses administer it. Now, Ashley Surin is the sole exemption. She overcame a leukemia diagnosis at 2 years old with extensive chemotherapy, but some of her treatments eventually led to having semi regular seizures. Her mother, Maureen Surin, told NPR that since starting medical marijuana treatment, her seizures have immensely declined in number. "We're amazed with her progress," Surin said.
Her parents filed a lawsuit in federal court on Wednesday against Schaumburg School District 54 and the State of Illinois, claiming that the state's ban on taking the drug at school violates the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). On Friday, a judge ruled in their favor after hearing from the school district, which reportedly had concerns that its employees may be subject to legal penalties for helping Ashley with her medications.
"What people seem to misunderstand here is that medical marijuana is a prescription like any other drug," [the family's attorney, Steven Glink, said]. "Prohibiting it in school would be the same as prohibiting other medications such as Ritalin, Adderall or Concerta."
A more permanent solution could be necessary (archive):
At a hearing in federal court in Chicago to consider the issue, Illinois Assistant Attorney General Thomas Ioppolo said that his office was willing to let school employees dispense the medication without prosecution. But U.S. Judge John Robert Blakey pointed out that officials would have to address the state law prohibition on possession or use of marijuana at school. For the judge to rule on the issue, he said, he would also need to find some legal basis to do so. The court case was continued until Friday, Jan. 19, for the attorney general's office to return with its legal assessment. But a court ruling may be unnecessary, Glink said, if school and state officials and lawmakers can resolve the matter on their own.
School district attorney Darcy Kriha said the case could benefit many children beyond Ashley, if school employees are protected from prosecution or license penalties for participating. School access is not the only issue, Maureen Surin said. Ashley wants to go to Disney World in Florida, but also can't get her medicine when she crosses state lines, Surin added.
Also at USA Today and NBC Chicago.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by bob_super on Monday January 15 2018, @10:20PM (9 children)
> "Prohibiting it in school would be the same as prohibiting other medications such as Ritalin, Adderall or Concerta."
How about prohibiting those three, and once again letting teachers scare the "ADHD" kids into behaving?
There are very few "ADHD" kids who wouldn't be magically cured by a few public yardstick spankings. Fear has magical focusing effects.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 16 2018, @12:06AM (2 children)
Well, at least prohibit Adderall, which is just meth. It fucks with your heart rhythm.
Concerta is Ritalin, but slow-release. They work OK, but depending on drugs is pretty messed up.
Most places have banned public punishment. This includes posting grades. The misery of any resulting humiliation actually does help keep people in line though, and by making people try harder it can actually be good for them.
Most places have banned in-school spankings. This is probably a mistake, but making spankings be beneficial requires some training (do not bash heads) and requires that we not hire teachers that get a perverse joy out of it. Some of the issues can be fixed by having the student be spanked by somebody other than the person who orders the spanking. That slows the process down though, and speed matters with the kids most likely to benefit from this punishment.
Much of the ADHD problem is a refusal to accept male behavior. Note that nearly all teachers in the younger grades a female and feminist. There has been an active effort to change education to benefit girls, for example with more group activity and discussion. Meanwhile, boys can't read; most of the students with reading problems are male. Boys are acting out in frustration. Boys could use more physical activity, perhaps 40 minutes twice daily. Boys could use more time to tinker with objects, for example in a real shop class with real tools. Boys benefit from an explicit rank structure, with legitimately earned awards. The fuzzy rank structure implied by gossip isn't good for boys.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 16 2018, @12:25AM
I see what you did there.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 16 2018, @07:10AM
I have come to the conclusion that we as a society flat do not want to teach our kids useful stuff.
We need them absolutely dependent on us, like a caged animal is to its owner.
Caged by debt.
So, we don't teach them how to survive. We teach them how to "go with the flow" and get the whole mess of 'em over their head in debt.
So we can have 'em cleaning the restrooms at the fast food joint for five dollars an hour.
Then get it all back in rent.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Anal Pumpernickel on Tuesday January 16 2018, @02:29AM
Physically assaulting others who behave in ways that you disagree with sure does sound like a good idea. I have to agree.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Thexalon on Tuesday January 16 2018, @03:00AM (3 children)
As someone who's worked with ADHD kids, what actually made a huge difference is putting them in an environment where they weren't bored out of their minds.
Corporal punishment doesn't really solve much of anything, because it switches authority from "I'm in charge of you because I'm more experienced and smarter than you" to "I'm in charge of you because I'm bigger than you and can hurt you". Which runs into two major problems: 1. If you or another adult aren't around, then there's nobody bigger than the kid to hurt them, so whatever rules you made don't stick around as good ideas. 2. Sometime between the ages of 12 and 15, the kid stops being smaller than you. At which point, again, you lose the power to control that relationship, and your teenagers rule over you with an iron fist. A much better way of controlling kids is by repeatedly demonstrating that doing what you tell them is something that's beneficial to them even when you aren't the one rewarding or punishing them.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by anubi on Tuesday January 16 2018, @07:24AM (1 child)
I have seen that same meme play out so many times.
The young child is unwittingly taught that "Might makes Right", and the kid grows up to be a real problem that only keeps the police and courtroom busy, and the neighbors terrified.
That is, until the kid finally does something that justifies a long stint in the pen.
What a waste...
Good parenting takes a lot of time. Time for you to teach. Time for the kid to learn by observing how YOU handle things.
Unfortunately, today's kids are being cheated our of their childhood. Their parental teaching time has been replaced by electronic games and the internet, neither of which give a rat's ass about the kid's welfare.
One thing I do know... one grows far more then animals and veggies on a family farm. They also grow relationships and values. And the self-worth that comes with knowing something very valuable exists because you made it so.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Tuesday January 16 2018, @10:30PM
"One thing I do know... one grows far more then animals and veggies on a family farm. They also grow relationships and values. And the self-worth that comes with knowing something very valuable exists because you made it so."
You can do that a lot of ways, but yes, family farms can be that. In my case, seeing my dad write code and debug problems was a big inspiration for me to take up the trade myself.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by bradley13 on Tuesday January 16 2018, @09:05AM
"As someone who's worked with ADHD kids, what actually made a huge difference is putting them in an environment where they weren't bored out of their minds."
This. Drugging them is a stupid solution. Some kids - mostly boys - need a more active environment, frequent recesses to burn off steam, etc.. Very few of them are actually outside of normal behavioral bounds.
I spent a number of years teaching martial arts to kids. We got quite a number of problem cases. It's an oversimplification, but generally the problem kids were just very active kids who lacked self-awareness and self-control, and that's what we taught them. And those problems could just about always be tracked back to the home environment: clueless parents, or in some cases abusive parents. If the parents recognize the problem, and care enough to do something about it, the problems caould almost always be fixed, no drugs required.
Clueless parents who fail to recognize that they need help. Drug the brats into submission /sarc
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday January 16 2018, @04:31PM
There must be safe spaces for kids who want to opt out of public yardstick spankings!
And for those who wish to opt out of conforming to behavioral norms!
Those few ADHD kids who wouldn't be magically cured probably do need real treatment. But the rest maybe aren't really ADHD. It's funny how many kids are ADHD when the parents like the effects of their kids drugs. (either how the drug affects the parents, or how it affects the kids).
If you think a fertilized egg is a child but an immigrant child is not, please don't pretend your concerns are religious