A 12-year-old Aurora boy who said he brought powdered sugar to school for a science project this week has been charged with a felony for possessing a look-alike drug, Aurora police have confirmed. The sixth-grade student at Waldo Middle School was also suspended for two weeks from school after showing the bag of powdered sugar to his friends. The boy, who is not being identified because he is a juvenile, said he brought the bag to school to ask his science teacher if he could run an experiment using sugar... The youngster was taken to the police station and detained, before being released to his parents that afternoon. "This is getting ridiculous," said the boy's mother. "They treated my son like a criminal. .. . This is no way to treat a 12-year-old kid." East Aurora School District officials declined to comment on the case, citing privacy issues. The district issued a written statement, which said: "The dangers of illegal drugs and controlled substances are clear. "Look-alike drugs and substances can cause that same level of danger because staff and students are not equipped to differentiate between the two." I think it's a bit over the top. Thinking about it though, the fact that the boy joked about it being coke to fellow students (who most likely told other kids) wasn't such a good idea in the first place. And am I the only one whom thinks that with americas budding drug culture, that teachers should be taught how to identify drugs? I don't know, just one of those "makes sense" type things. It'll probably never fly though... Just wait, theres more!
Maybe I missed somthing, but it doesn't explicitly say he claimed it was coke. Even if he did, it is, at most a case of poor judgement. If he had said it was coke, he should have been detained while the substance was tested, and released when it proved to be sugar. I agree that the school and the police are way out of line, but what do you do about this kind of BS? Maybe everyone should bring a bag of sugar to school and let them try to arrest all the students.
To a couple of fellow students he did state that it was narcotics, yes, but he then identified his previous statement as a "joke", thus nullifying any implications. But you're right, they should have tested it before hand (or just given him some in-school punishment, rather than risk him being sent to jail/juvie/whatever the state has planned).
The trouble with news snippets like this is that it's so easy to jump to conclusions on no evidence whatsoever and take sides in the argument. For instance, on the evidence, it's my theory this kid is a disruptive asshole and the staff thought it probable his hyperactivity was drug-induced. Plus it got him out of their hair for a few days.
hehe... i think it went a little too far to involve the police, i think a detention or somthing of the like would of been suitable.
Does the fact that posessing somthing that looks like a drug, but is not, is a FELONY seem a little over the top to anyone else? What happened to the theory that the punishment should fit the crime?
If I look like a criminal, could I be arrested too? Fair enough with 'Possession of an Imitation Firearm', but 'possession of imitation drug' just doesnt do it for me. Waving around a convincing-looking handgun could alarm a few people and can be a quick route to suicide-by-cop, but taking a bag of sugar to school??? The worst that could happen is one of the stupid kids gets a bit of Tate & Lyle up their nose...
I just found this amusing, for a start hes 12, he wasnt doing anything illegal. Like has been said, what they going to start doing, arresting people who look criminal... shopping in old ladies who look like they could be going to steal apples..... jesus
Tonight headlines: Backery shut down, the owner of the store got life long for the possession of imitation drug.
If the police can't tell the difference between flour/confectioner's sugar and illicit drugs just on smell alone, we're all screwed. Then again, I don't think too many bakers are going to boast about their pallet of 50lb coke bags.
