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17-year old high school student in Oakton was suspended for two weeks for taking a birth control pill during lunch time. The school has a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to drugs, prescription or non-prescription. If she'd taken heroin or LSD, her suspension would have only been 5 days. Her punishment for taking a birth control pill is the equivalent to if she'd brought a weapon to school.
I understand a zero-tolerance policy for drugs - who's to say whether a kid is taking Ecstasy, Ritalin,
Benedryl, or Advil? But honestly, the punishment scale here is quite lopsided. Hopefully this makes the school system wake up and reevaluate some of their policies.