Responsible Behavior Lands Teen In Hot Water

Last month, a teenage girl from Fairfax, VA received two weeks suspension for popping pills at school. Her drug of choice? Birth control.

Unfortunately, her high school has a zero-tolerance policy on drugs. Students have been penalized for ibuprofen to sunscreen. Students across Virginia face expulsion if they carry in any “controlled substance” regulated by the federal government or even any “imitation controlled substance,” which includes virtually any prescription pill. Some have criticized this harsh policy, which dictates the same punishment for a student who takes their birth control during school hours as one who brings a gun onto school property. “To put birth control in the same category as illegal drugs or handguns stigmatizes responsible behavior,” said Deb Hauser of Advocates for Youth. The suspended teen, who wishes to remain anonymous, has asked her school to reexamine the regulations so that other students will not “needlessly suffer” as she has. [Washington Post]