Yes, you read that correctly! It is not against the law to drink or possess caffeine. It is not against the law to drink or possess tea or coffee. One may also eat chocolate, which contains caffeine, and also consume and share the confection at school. Yet......four high school students in Illinois were suspended for "consuming unfamiliar mints" in the cafeteria! Instead of simply asking the students what they were eating, the drama queens who run the school in Peoria, Illinois hauled the students into the office, confiscated the package, which, by the way, lists all the ingredients, suspended the young people, and called their parents! Let me remind everyone at this jucture that if a crime had actually been committed, the school would have had a responsibility to notify law enforcement. Law enforcement would have had to pack up some doughnuts and COFFEE for the road and go arrest these naughty children. But that didn't happen, because the children did nothing unlawful. But did the drama queens at the school "unsuspend" the children and apologize for accusing them of criminal behavior? (I'd sue the school over that if it were my child) Did they give the students back the instructional time, which is their right? Did they even abide by federal law, which states that children must attend school until the age of sixteen? No they didn't. After the successful dramafest, the school decided that they should continue to deny these children instructional time at school!
The Food And Drug Adminstration actually takes all the mystery out of these "unknown products" by requiring a list of ingredients on all foods marketed commercially in the United States. That includes mints, gum, candy, coffee, and tea. Imposing discipline in a school is a very serious thing, especially a suspension. The principal, teachers, and any other faculty involved has the reponsibility to find out what has actually taken place before depriving a child of the right to an education.
Quite a few of us actually drink coffee in support of world peace! Can anyone imagine what would happen if everyone with a caffeine habit was suddenly denied? Another question that deserves an answer here involves the teachers' lounge at this school: how much coffee is consumed there? Had the teachers involved in this incident abused anything stronger and less legal than caffeine before they suspended these children? Had the teachers involved in this incident had their coffee yet?
"According to EnergyFiend.com, each mint contains 101
milligrams of caffeine along with guarana, green tea, ginseng, acai, mangosteen
and goji.
McMichael's father said school officials
later admitted they did not know if the chewable, unmarked mints were, in fact,
illegal drugs, but upheld the suspensions anyway, saying the teens displayed
"gross misconduct for taking an unknown product."....Yahoo News
The Food And Drug Adminstration actually takes all the mystery out of these "unknown products" by requiring a list of ingredients on all foods marketed commercially in the United States. That includes mints, gum, candy, coffee, and tea. Imposing discipline in a school is a very serious thing, especially a suspension. The principal, teachers, and any other faculty involved has the reponsibility to find out what has actually taken place before depriving a child of the right to an education.
Quite a few of us actually drink coffee in support of world peace! Can anyone imagine what would happen if everyone with a caffeine habit was suddenly denied? Another question that deserves an answer here involves the teachers' lounge at this school: how much coffee is consumed there? Had the teachers involved in this incident abused anything stronger and less legal than caffeine before they suspended these children? Had the teachers involved in this incident had their coffee yet?
Mints and candy will not be tolerated in Illinois schools! So says the Furor!
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