Oakton High School in Fairfax County, MD has suspended a student who was caught popping a pill at lunchtime.
Seems the school has a zero tolerance drug policy, so that all meds must be administered at the school office, or not at all.
In an interesting twist, however, the liberal press is a bit worked up because this student was supposedly behaving "responsibly" by taking birth control, and the suspension for this behavior is tragic to them.
Scheduling the birth control administration at noon?? This was never taken up by the
Washington Post article which discusses the story. There really is no reason for the girl to need those pills at school for once daily administration. If she requires noon administration of the pill (perhaps the minipill, which requires the most regular administration) due to her late weekend sleeping habits, why can't she wait in line with all the kids who take Ritalin at lunchtime? If Mom and the rest of the world knows that she needs to use the pill, there should be no difficulty with complying with school regulations.
Strict drug policies at schools stem from fears of drug abuse, combined with worries about liabilities for students who share drugs with friends who are allergic. Lawyers have been feeding at this trough. Obsessive caution has become economically vital.
This brings up the topic of shared birth control. Yes, those packs can be split into Yuzpe regimens which functioned as the first "morning after pills" before exclusively labeled regimens were marketed, and still function as such in many locations today. It's a stupid idea, but certainly not new.
Reminder: The morning after pill works no better than the withdrawal method. Both stink as birth control.
And the last blast: It's not an allergic kid's vital need for inhalers at the ready, or an Epipen to prevent anaphylaxis, which will tone down the school drug policies. It will be the liberals WHINING about the "right" to be able to take birth control pills at any time of day, (whenever the girl happens to remember them).