School drug and gun policies seem a little insincere

Date published: 7/15/2008

ONE OF MY biggest pet peeves is false advertising.

Whether it's those ridiculous infomercials or misleading packaging, it always riles me. But the most blatant example may be one that I see every day of school: the signs posted outside of schools saying that it is a "Drug Free, Gun Free" zone.

This is simply not true. It is almost impossible for the school be drug free. For one thing, the signs do not specify what they mean by "drugs"--do they mean just narcotics or all drugs? If the latter, the fact that students are administered prescription drugs at school goes against the signage.

Also, many times a year we hear of students being suspended or expelled from school for having drugs. If the school were truly drug-free, then there would have never been drugs in the students' possession.

The schools are not gun-free either. Every high school in Stafford County has a school resource officer who carries a gun every day, and every lower school has a resource officer at least one day a week. So shouldn't these signs really say "Mostly Drug and Gun Free" or "We wish we were Drug and Gun Free"?

Now, before you freak out and point out the fact that the signs mean that the school has no tolerance for the possession of drugs or weapons, hear me out. I am taking these signs literally because if the schools do not have a tolerance for these things, then that is what the signs should say.

I also understand that these signs are a way to say that the schools are safe and that they are not a drug-addict haven. But when you consider that, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, as of 2007, 46.8 percent of high school seniors have used drugs, then somebody is using them at school--and, chances are, they have the drugs with them at school.

I just wish that these signs were more specific and less misleading.

Kyle Falkenstern is a rising senior at Stafford High School.

Date published: 7/15/2008