'Rampant' drug use raises concern at Kennedy High School in Montgomery County

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think DCUM can fathom the severity of the issue at Kennedy.

Where's the poster who claims that issues at MCPS isn't *that* bad?

[Anonymous]

I'm the poster who wrote about issues at BCC and Churchill.

The problem has gotten WORSE compared to a generation ago, because of VAPING.

The devices can be hidden in the palm of their hands. They can walk all over the school carrying a vape.

It makes it extremely hard to catch students, and bathrooms get particularly bad.

I've had kids in two different W high schools and this is a problem that's not going away, one discussed by PTSAs and school admins all the time.

We need vape detectors in schools, and if we can't get a state-wide vaping ban, we need enforced regulation on all businesses that sell these things to minors. Levy huge fines, just like selling alcohol to minors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I smoked pot almost every day when I was attending an MCPS high school 30 years ago. This is not new.

The pot of today is different - stronger and mixed with chemicals in a different delivery method.

DP. That's what they said 30 years ago too, when I was in high school (not in MCPS, and I never smoked pot).

So the rise in psychosis among adolescents is just made up?

https://www.wsj.com/us-news/marijuana-depression-psychosis-869490d1

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/mental-health/marijuana-induced-psychiatric-disorders-high-potency-weed-psychosis-rcna146072

I don't know what to tell you. They actually did say this. They have been saying "The pot of today is different - stronger" since at least the 1970s.

So you're not going to engage with facts or data. Just keep repeating, "They used to say this in the past" as a means of dismissing concerns about the issue, among real people today?

Why aren't you engaging with the fact that people have been saying ""The pot of today is different - stronger" since at least the 1970s? Was it not true then, but it's true now?

Because why does it matter? A reasonable hypothesis is that it was not true then but it is now. I'm pointing you to recent studies and journalism on the topic. That to me is more important and relevant.

If Chicken Little has been saying "The sky is falling!" for 50 years, people are unlikely to believe that the sky actually is falling now. Or, alternatively, if the boy has been crying WOLF for 50 years, people are unlikely to believe that there actually is a wolf now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I smoked pot almost every day when I was attending an MCPS high school 30 years ago. This is not new.

I also attended mcps back then. There were only a handful of "burnouts" like you at my school, Einstein, and I was not one of them. The same burnouts smoked pcp in the smokers' court (yup, I'm that old), but they never smoked in the hallways. You could smell cigarette smoke coming from the teachers' lounge. Drug use seems more prevalent than it was in our day. I knew exactly who used and sold drugs, including a certain vice principal I will not name.

Same. Attended another MCPS high school in the late 90s and you definitely knew who "the smokers" were, but they didn't dare do it in school. They would at least walk outside the building and go the nearby woods to do that stuff. Or their cars.

Progressive liberals don't believe in punishment or consequences. Kids know that. I have a HSer and one who just graduated. If the kids know that they aren't going to be punished for something, of course they will do it. This is a "no shlt sherlock" situation.

I swear.. the so called adults who come up with the coc and consequences don't know a d@mn thing about teens. And they don't like how most of the kids who would get into trouble are from a certain group. Makes the numbers look bad from a DEI perspective. That's all they care about - optics, rather than the kids themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I smoked pot almost every day when I was attending an MCPS high school 30 years ago. This is not new.

I also attended mcps back then. There were only a handful of "burnouts" like you at my school, Einstein, and I was not one of them. The same burnouts smoked pcp in the smokers' court (yup, I'm that old), but they never smoked in the hallways. You could smell cigarette smoke coming from the teachers' lounge. Drug use seems more prevalent than it was in our day. I knew exactly who used and sold drugs, including a certain vice principal I will not name.

Same. Attended another MCPS high school in the late 90s and you definitely knew who "the smokers" were, but they didn't dare do it in school. They would at least walk outside the building and go the nearby woods to do that stuff. Or their cars.

Progressive liberals don't believe in punishment or consequences. Kids know that. I have a HSer and one who just graduated. If the kids know that they aren't going to be punished for something, of course they will do it. This is a "no shlt sherlock" situation.

I swear.. the so called adults who come up with the coc and consequences don't know a d@mn thing about teens. And they don't like how most of the kids who would get into trouble are from a certain group. Makes the numbers look bad from a DEI perspective. That's all they care about - optics, rather than the kids themselves.

Really? So your kids smoke/smoked pot in school? Because they knew they weren't going to be punished for it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I smoked pot almost every day when I was attending an MCPS high school 30 years ago. This is not new.

The pot of today is different - stronger and mixed with chemicals in a different delivery method.

DP. That's what they said 30 years ago too, when I was in high school (not in MCPS, and I never smoked pot).

So the rise in psychosis among adolescents is just made up?

https://www.wsj.com/us-news/marijuana-depression-psychosis-869490d1

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/mental-health/marijuana-induced-psychiatric-disorders-high-potency-weed-psychosis-rcna146072

I don't know what to tell you. They actually did say this. They have been saying "The pot of today is different - stronger" since at least the 1970s.

And in the 70s, did they say the one in the 70s was "stronger" than the one from 1920s?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Last year there was a problem at BCC, which has since been tamped down a bit. Some bathrooms are closed at lunchtime and the rest are monitored by staff and parent volunteers.

Churchill had a problem recently.

Substance use is pervasive, and you never know when and at which school it will bubble up.

The less affluent schools like Kennedy ain't got nothing on the W's when it comes to drugs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know why the only point people are making here is that the drug problem is at every school. Of course it is. OP in fact made a point that the Kennedy HS teacher said that this happens in other schools too.
The issue is that drug use IN the schools have become rampant. Hallways reek of marijuana, bathroom vaping is common, and staff aren't doing much about it except for shutting down the bathrooms. And I know people say this was common back in the day, however I disagree. I graduated in 1993 and went to a non-W HS. Yes, plenty of kids were doing weed- but not AT school; and if they did- they would get in a lot of trouble. No, it's not the same.

THANK YOU. It is NOT the same at all. I too went to MCPS high school in the '90s and what I see going on now would have been unconscionable back then.

It absolutely is the same today as back in the 90’s. The 80’s/90’s had a whole D.A.R.E campaign. The only difference is now is that it’s not just targeting minority communities.

[Anonymous]

Vapes have really normalized the behaviors. Easy to hide. You can do it easily in a stairwell or bathroom. I have seen students use them in class. Completely different world from what many of you remember. There is much easier access to marijuana products and much easier sneakier ways to consume them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Vapes have really normalized the behaviors. Easy to hide. You can do it easily in a stairwell or bathroom. I have seen students use them in class. Completely different world from what many of you remember. There is much easier access to marijuana products and much easier sneakier ways to consume them.

what I remember is people smoking pot while sitting on their cars in the high school parking lot

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Vapes have really normalized the behaviors. Easy to hide. You can do it easily in a stairwell or bathroom. I have seen students use them in class. Completely different world from what many of you remember. There is much easier access to marijuana products and much easier sneakier ways to consume them.

what I remember is people smoking pot while sitting on their cars in the high school parking lot

That’s the point. They were rarely smoking in the school building the .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Vapes have really normalized the behaviors. Easy to hide. You can do it easily in a stairwell or bathroom. I have seen students use them in class. Completely different world from what many of you remember. There is much easier access to marijuana products and much easier sneakier ways to consume them.

what I remember is people smoking pot while sitting on their cars in the high school parking lot

That’s the point. They were rarely smoking in the school building the .

You'll have to explain to me why it's completely different for kids to smoke pot in the high school bathroom during school vs. in the high school parking lot during school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Vapes have really normalized the behaviors. Easy to hide. You can do it easily in a stairwell or bathroom. I have seen students use them in class. Completely different world from what many of you remember. There is much easier access to marijuana products and much easier sneakier ways to consume them.

what I remember is people smoking pot while sitting on their cars in the high school parking lot

Are you a NORML volunteer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Vapes have really normalized the behaviors. Easy to hide. You can do it easily in a stairwell or bathroom. I have seen students use them in class. Completely different world from what many of you remember. There is much easier access to marijuana products and much easier sneakier ways to consume them.

what I remember is people smoking pot while sitting on their cars in the high school parking lot

That’s the point. They were rarely smoking in the school building the .

You'll have to explain to me why it's completely different for kids to smoke pot in the high school bathroom during school vs. in the high school parking lot during school.

kid is doing stuff in THEIR car, let the parents parent their kid. But inside the school? All students have a right to access clean and drug free school bathrooms to pee poop or for menstrual needs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Vapes have really normalized the behaviors. Easy to hide. You can do it easily in a stairwell or bathroom. I have seen students use them in class. Completely different world from what many of you remember. There is much easier access to marijuana products and much easier sneakier ways to consume them.

what I remember is people smoking pot while sitting on their cars in the high school parking lot

That’s the point. They were rarely smoking in the school building the .

You'll have to explain to me why it's completely different for kids to smoke pot in the high school bathroom during school vs. in the high school parking lot during school.

kid is doing stuff in THEIR car, let the parents parent their kid. But inside the school? All students have a right to access clean and drug free school bathrooms to pee poop or for menstrual needs.

I can’t believe people don’t get this.