On Tuesday, September 27, 2011, what occurred at the San Pedro High School (SPHS) could be described as nothing less than shocking. At around 12:30PM, the San Pedro Police Department were called to the school's grounds. Unconfirmed reports were that the school officials became aware that 19 students of Class 2G had consumed and were suffering from the effects of the marihuana "spiked" Brownies, commonly known as "Hash Brownies".

In an interview with Mr. Emil Vasquez, Principal of SPHS, he informed The San Pedro Sun, "We became aware of the situation when one student reported to the office complaining of a headache. He was questioned as to what he had consumed and among other things, mentioned a brownie which was being shared around the class. As the suspicions were raised, we immediately contacted the police department, which had an officer over very quickly".

According to Mr. Vasquez, the culprit, who is a minor, confessed that he had brought the spiked brownie to school for his personal use as he feels the need to have it. He claimed that he was having the brownie as breakfast. However as he was eating, students gathered around and asked him to share. This he did. He further claimed that some of the students knew exactly what he was eating, but they insisted and he complied. At the end, 19 students had eaten from the five squares of spiked brownie.

As to how the incident was allowed to occur, Mr. Vasquez commented, "To start off, the manner in which it was introduced. It was introduced as a brownie, which students do sometimes bring in the morning as snacks or breakfast. Some of the kids bring their lunch and they are allowed to have their lunch in class because they can not afford to buy food at school".

As to what actions have been taken, Mr. Vasquez informed The Sun; "We have been dealing with the case in accordance to our school policy. This policy is vetted by the School Board and the Ministry of Education. That child has already been excluded from the classroom but not from school. This year we are experimenting with an in-school suspension program, so he is being separated from his class and being kept in a special room with his councillor pending further investigation. I

San Pedro Sun

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAAyNyywhHc

Let the jokes start rolling... Marty's gonna need more server space by the time this thread is through!!!

Quite honestly it is not a laughing matter. It's not funny, it is a criminal act. Doling out drugs to unsuspecting victims is despicable behaviour. Granted they are kids so it is good that the error of their ways has been pointed out and nipped in the bud (pun intended) so to speak. But the repercussions of the incident will be long term and far reaching.

The main culprit could be expelled - is that teaching him a lesson or is it too harsh a punishment?

I'm with Amanda on this one.

No he won't if Amanda doesnt like you kiss your funnies goodbye!

Absolutely, I stand corrected, just horrible, horrible, not funny at ALL...

I mean none of us EVER snuck a drink or smoked some pot in high school did we???

Not to mention, I hear pot's a gateway drug, and lord knows that if you (folks commenting) HAD imbibed, the ramifications would be long term and far reaching and you would probably just be criminals or addicts by now, would't you???

Geez...

Should it be condoned and encouraged? Probably not.

Is it 'funny'... you bet.

Expelling the kid would be, in a word, stupid. Put him to work for god's sake. Make him paint the freakin high school building, have him pick up litter for a month, don't kick him out of school.

How about some perspective and common sense.

I was going to stay out of this, butt................... Im with SF Jeff on this one. Please do not kick the kid out of school, thats when he/she will go down hill.

In my day when you did something wrong you had to do EXTRA school time. Expelsion is stuid.
AND - who made the brownies?

i tried and tried to get expelled. never thought about a batch-o brownies.
i am suspect of every brownie i see nowadays.

Dosing unsuspecting people with drugs or beer or whatever is not a nice thing to do. School is for studying and learning - activities which are not enhanced by being high on THC.

Am I missing something? Where are people getting the "unsuspected dosing" part?

"He claimed that he was having the brownie as breakfast. However as he was eating, students gathered around and asked him to share. This he did. He further claimed that some of the students knew exactly what he was eating, but they insisted and he complied."

If some kids knew they ALL knew... HS students are not stupid. Heck, at least the kid's not selfish.

...and how do you "dose" somebody with beer???

"I'm gonna slip some beer into your, uh... beer and hope you don't notice." Bowen & Bowen just delivered here... 'wish someone had dosed our order with an extra case or two.

Again, whoever reading this thread/posting comments has never tried pot, please raise your hand.

Funny how we've changed since High School.
Don't know how it was in Detroit in the 60's but in Memphis school was Sex, Drugs and Rock'N'Roll!

i was that poster boy!

and i tend to agree,,, i bet they ALL knew those were special brownies.

Geeze folks - take a toke and relax.

I was at Cholo's the other day... after drinking 4 or 5 bottles of a cold beverage, I suspected that somebody might have put beer in the bottles... but I was not sure so I kept drinking. After another 3 or 4 my suspicions grew but I could still not quite be sure??? I asked the people around me "is there BEER in here" but I did not get a conclusive answer so much as laughter and slurred replies. Waking up the next morning, I had a bit of a headache. I DEFINITELY now think that is was beer.

Sorry SF Jeff,I actually did have more info than you in regards to the incident at school.

There were kids that did not know that they were eating hash brownies. Since they aren't in the habit of ingesting illegal substances they were unaware until the drugs took effect.

Yes, when you went to a bar, order a beer, receive the beer and ingest it you actually knew what you were doing and knew the consequences of your actions. You are an adult. I should hope you have that much sense at your age.

Children still need guidance and protection.

I went to high school here and it was not all about sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll - that is an American thing.

I didn't say that the kids were stupid. They did not know that their class mate was handing out drugged food. It used to be common place for cookies or cupcakes and brownies to be sent to school and shared. In the US it is a practice that is no longer allowed - because people spiked the food and thought it was funny.

I realize many folks that haven't raised kids may not entirely see the gravity of trying to raise good kids in an environment of sex, drugs and rock n roll - which is typical island living here - but some of us have kids and would like to give them a fighting chance at getting an education and getting off the island and checking out the world before they decide to drop out of the oppressed first world society and turn into beach bums.

Yes, I may be a little uptight - but I am a parent and these MY kids and my friends kids that we are trying to raise well despite the glaringly obvious obstacles of adults that have opinions on how to raise kids that are not their family members.

For those of you that enjoy a toke, as Diane said, go and enjoy it. But don't try to force me to ingest your fumes.

Just a quick note - I NEVER snuck booze or drugs into high school when I was a kid. But of course I graduated high school and was working full time when I was 15. I imagine those that exult the ideology that high school is about partying probably spent a few more years in high school than I did.

Quick note - my question was what should the punishment be? Expulsion is definitely an option, detention, cleaning up litter etc is on the table. We don't have classes on how to be a responsible contributing member of society - and I don't think there would be any suitable mentors to be found around here -

Geeze Amanda, not even you ?

I'm with you Amanda...it's tough raising kids today.

TAKE a chill pill folks.The situation is being dealt with fortunately and no one got hurt.
Class dismissed

we never had any kids. we figgured between my demon seed and her deviled eggs, it might not be the best idea.
and i can see you and raise,, i not only was out of school (quit, didn't graduate) and working full time at 15-16, but was also living on my own. nnyyaa.

edit: and yes,, way back then i was a stoner.

Get the kid to write an essay on what s/he thinks the consequences of the action should be. This was something I asked my kids to do when they did something totally boneheaded and I was often surprised at the creatively fair solutions they came up with when my solution was to just bean them!

It wasnt required of me to write/do community service/ stay after school. I just took my ass wupping and went fishing.

You know Ernie these days the ass wupping isn't always available. In today's society we don't always have father figures around and the momma is out working to pay the bills for her li' pickney.

Hon, I like the ideas of the essay and shall submit it to the disciplinary board for consideration.

I want to see our kids get an education and come out of school somewhat unscathed!

Marty, shame you didn't post the whole article - the newspaper came out today and goes more in depth into the situation and an overview of what our community is currently needing to contend with.

Our schools can't accommodate all of the kids that need an education right now. Our parents are expecting the schools to "raise" the kids. This is a community and the families and mentors within our community need to stand up and help out - the situation is a little dire.

Slowly the island is seeing more of our necessities being fulfilled - full time social worker, education officer, extended hours at the poly clinic, more police and fire fighters - but we have a long way to go and leave a lot to still be desired.

Thanks for all contributing to this thread, I know I can get intense, but with 3 kids in different stages of development parenting is truly a daunting task and it would be nice to pick up a few helpful hints along the way rather than the wise cracks that I can garner from TV.

Both my folks were teachers when I was growing up (my mom AT my high school) so I have a lot of respect for the challenges they face. Seems that in a situation like this (particularly if you embraced the above mentioned common sense and perspective) it would be fairly easy to take lemons and make lemonade so to speak... ESPECIALLY since the teacher/school was confronted with not simply one kid doing something he shouldn't, but a classroom of 19 dazed and confused pupils:

"It's become readily apparent that most all of you are, well... fully baked, much like the brownies you all shared. So put down your books, we're going to go on a field trip. First stop, the park by the library, so we can meet some shining examples of what will happen to you eventually if you should decide to do this EVERY day. Then, we'll stop at central park where you can all buy 1 or 2 or 20 burritos as I'm sure all of you will be quite hungry by then... last stop, Castillo's where we'll pick up 20 gallons of paint and the same amount of brushes. Then, every day for the next month, rather than going home after school, you will get to help beautify the school and neighborhood until it's time to go home for your dinner. You will NOT get a break at 4:20. All of your parents have already been notified."

Question: Where were this kids parent(s) when he was making these brownies? If I saw a teenage male making brownies I would immediately be suspicious. I have a nose like a rottweiller and would smell hash being cooked up in my house in a second.

He brought enough to feed 19 kids and gave it to them. That's
trafficking.

I think he should spend the weekend or weekends in jail or detention.

The police or social workers should do a thorough investigation of his living conditions at home.
Scared straight... it works.

Perhaps if there were more parents like Amanda who took an active interest in thier kids lives there would be less gangs and youths in distress.

Look anywhere on the island and you will see kids running around late into the night with no parental supervision.
Why? because most of them are at home either drunk, stoned or making more babies that they can't handle.

SF Jeff, good suggestion about the class trip to see the aimless bums and fried burnouts.

Dwight, I imagine the parent(s) was probably at work.

So many parents really do care about their kids, but don't always know how to handle them and they get overwhelmed.

I don't think jail would be a solution right now (here in Belize jail can be a highly dangerous place,) but detention would work.

One question. Where did he get the stuff? Maybe a local supplier who everyone (even the cops) are aware of? Funny how, when the tourists move in, so do the people of shady ethics looking for a buck. And they don't care where the buck comes from, tourists or locals or kids.

Just my opinion.

nope,, no kid hints from me. just wise cracks.
and it's better that way believe me.

I'm gonna weigh in on this, even though I probably shouldn't. I dont' have any kids, but since I was a teenager once, I pretty much know how they think. Even though the kids that got dosed were like "Oh no, we had no idea that there was pot in those brownies", because they didnt want to get in trouble, they darn sure did know what was in the brownies. The kid that brought the brownies, was probably a known pot-head among the other kids and he probably dropped little hints that he had "special brownies" and so the other kids wanted a piece of the action. even if they had never smoked pot before, there was probably some peer pressure involved.
The kid shouldn't be expelled, but he should have to do some community service, or paint the school, or something like that. And he should know that if someone had been allergic to what was in the brownies and had a severe reaction he could have been in a lot more trouble.

brace yourself catdance,, you are about to feel the wrath of some mommy's.

edit: i too was a teenager. although back then pot brownies were not popular.
but being a teenager today living in belize,, i will still bet that each and every one of those kids at LEAST had a idea what was going on. it's hi school,, they know whats going on.

"high" school. HA HA HA
yeah yeah, I know school is not a place to smoke weed, but "back in the day" I did on occasion, and I survived and actually made something out of myself.

i have always hung out with the more 'un-scrupulous crowds in more than one country and i can say that not until i got to belize did i see 'pot brownies' and 'special cake' be so popular.

It happens everywhere. That said, I really like the paint/garbage/community service idea. Real consequences. Real lesson.

Think how much 19 kids could clean up/paint in 1 month! And yes, the ringleader AND the participants (unwitting or not) should all be on the crew, they will all learn a lesson.

my .04

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vK7hZ9CxCfU&feature=youtube_gdata_player

thats what they are for,, the fiber!

edit: "gonna have a brownie, a magic brownie.
get rid of your frown-ie, turn it upside down-ie."

Finally! Somebody really DOES have a sense of humor . . .


/Dave's not here . . .

No Man! its ME, Dave! Open Up!

loved that friggin album I wore a hole in it listening to that bit...

on another note until you have kids you wont/cant ever understand how it changes even the biggest head in school to someone you'd never even imagine was the same person...just sayin'...

now...back to Cheech & Chong

The reason I worry about the kids in my life, is because I know what the heck I was up to at their age. Frightening.

Yep - and eating pot-brownies sometimes puts you in a time-warp where you feel the urge to comment on a 7-year-old message board post.

"of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most."

Ha ha ha ha!