<p>I read this in the Boston globe yesterday. If this has already been discussed, I apologize. </p>
<p>May heart bleeds for these parents. And I am truly angered? Bewildered? Confused? About the use of a substance policy that is more of a suggestion.</p>
<p>Please let me know parents what you are thinking about this.</p>
<p>Seems that it more the practice of police using low level arrestees as informers to catch bigger ones went wrong in this case. The police had arrested him for dealing other illegal drugs but apparently did not suspect the use or dealing of heroin.</p>
<p>I don’t understand why the student who sold him the heroin that he overdosed on is still free.</p>
<p>Unless I misread, it was the campus police that made that deal and it did not get to the town police? Can campus policy take that responsibility in direct opposition to the policy?</p>
<p>I think the policy/practice stinks. IMO, a dealer should not be classified as a “low level arrestee.” If i was drug czar, an arrest for dealing would result in automatic expulsion and completion of a mandatory drug treatment program to return; otherwise, have your day in court.</p>
<p>This is every parent’s nightmare; overdose or suicide. I so wish parents would be informed. A student known for drug use should sign statement to allow for info to parent. </p>
<p>This kid would NEVER have signed anything allowing his parents to be informed. There’s no policy that would have brought that about.</p>
<p>The kids who smoke pot know the dealers that also sell heroine. This was not the case when I was in HS or college and this is what scares me the most.</p>
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<p>Since nearly all college students are legal adults, it would be illegal to inform the parents. But my solution, suspension and drug treatment, would get the parent’s attention.</p>
<p>He’s not a kid. He’s 18 years old He can sign a contract legally. He can join the army and offer up his life on behalf of his company. His parents can’t even get his grades and other campus info without him signing over permission, or his medical records even if he’s on parents’ insurance. That he is at a college and parents are paying makes no difference at all. This is something that parents need to understand when their kids turn 18. The line is crossed, the kid is on his own. You can fool yourself by being very involved, but when push comes to shove, it’s over in terms of your kids life being your business, except where the kid allows it. Yes, the school can expel him, sanction him, but they do not have to tell the parents and are not permitted to do so. Yes, if you sign a financial responsibility contract with the school, they can send you the bill if anything is owed to the school, but you can then find yourself in the odd predicament of getting a bill (which you pre agreed to pay) for something the school can’t and should not tell you what it’s for. You have to deal with that with your kid. </p>
<p>Yes, they are adults. That you are keeping them as children in your hearts and minds, doesn’t matter in terms of the law. Unless you can get papers overriding them, as one can for those who are disabled enough, that’s it in terms of parental privileges. Because parents have the money and are willing to spend it on their kids, there are many takers who give parents the false feeling that they are still able to be fully involved. Nope. Laws out there that outright forbid it and you need an override to get around it, signed by kid and agreed upon all around. </p>
<p>Sad as this situation is, it’s likely legal. </p>
<p>My impression from the article is that part of the substance abuse policy of the school is to inform the parent. If that is the condition of attending the school (agreement with the policy) then the school is required to inform parents. In essence, the student has agreed to informing the parent before the infraction.</p>
<p>I wish that instead of saying “he’s an adult, so there’s nothing we can do” people would look at the big picture. This young man was a sick, addicted person. It’s foolish to make a contract with such a person. He’s not emotionally or mentally qualified to do so, in spite of his age. </p>
<p>An arrest and suspension, on the other hand, would have informed his parents legally of his problem and they could have chosen to take actions that might have saved his life. The story in the Globe made it pretty clear that the young man wanted to be clean, so his parents might have been able to persuade him to go to rehab if they had known. Instead, because the campus police saw him as a “resource” rather than as a vulnerable human being, he is now dead.</p>
<p>I dislike the way the police used this kid. But I am more disappointed that the parents treated the cocaine bust so lightly. How could anyone believe that the first time a kid gets caught is the first time he’s used? It’s very sad, but they really need to own a piece of this tragedy.</p>
<p>This young man may have been a sick, addicted person, but he was also a criminal who sold drugs to other students, perhaps himself destroying others’ lives, just as his parents blame his dealer for destroying his. I feel sorry for him, but my empathy is limited due to the fact that he dragged others down as well.</p>
<p>I agree with WasatchWriter. It appears this young man had a long standing drug addiction problem, even going back to high school. The parents were in denial. If one of mine had been using cocaine, DH or I would have been on a plane and my kid would come home for psych counseling and rehab. There’s always the chance that a kid would refuse, but most parents know how to use whatever leverage they have with their kids. But first they have to recognize the seriousness of the problem. In this case, it seems the boy probably would have agreed to get help once the fear of his folks finding out was behind him.
This story left me in tears for this kid, his family, and the hundreds of other kids who make the mistaken judgement that they will be one of the lucky ones who can use without it becoming a problem. Apparently this young man made the fatal mistake while still in HS. </p>
<p>And I also think this program stinks. The police know they are giving the addicts no real choice.</p>
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<p>Take your wishes to your congresspersons. The fact is that this young man is an adult and Federal Law precludes contacting his 'rents. </p>
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<p>Absolutely no way, without prior written permission from the student: “I hereby allow the Dean to call my parents if I am found to be using/selling illegal substances” might do it.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html”>http://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html</a></p>
<p>Other than the fact that this is a criminal issue that should be handled by police, not by the school, I see no issue here. Saying the school should have to contact the parents is not only illegal (as far as I know - could be wrong on that) but leads to a slippery slope, where does it end? </p>
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<p>LOL wat?</p>
<p>No. Well, probably some, but certainly not the majority. If I wanted weed I could get some today. If I wanted heroin I’d have absolutely no clue where to get any.</p>
<p>The kid had a drug problem. Kids with drug problems sometimes OD. Sometimes they get behind the wheel of a car and kill other kids. Sometimes they burn down the house. Drugs are bad news–especially for teens. </p>
<p>With that in mind, the actions of the UMASS /Amherst PD is flippin’-un-forgivable. A college student is busted with drugs. He’s coerced into becoming an "informant’? What the heck? Instead of offering the kid help, the cops toss him right back into a dangerous life style? Not only was this kida a danger to himself he also posed a significant threat to his classmates/roommates. Obviously the cops don’t care about the general population at large, only about their own self-importantance. Disgusting. I hope every single one of them (cop, DA, college admin, judge) loose his/her job and and their pension. (unused sick andvaction days) Donate the unused pension money to abuse prevention at UMass. </p>
<p>And if a party is high on drugs, how can that party enter into a leagally binding agreement. Did this kid have public deffender assinged? </p>