Michael Sheridan, an eighth-grade honors student who was suspended for a day, barred from attending an honors dinner and stripped of his title as class vice president after he was caught with a bag of Skittles candy in school will get his student council post back, school officials said.

Read the rest of the story.  It reads like a drug bust story more than just some 8th grader buying Skittles. Don’t our schools have bigger fish to fry?  My favorite quote from the article:

Michael had said that he didn’t realize his candy purchase was against the rules, but he did notice that the student selling the Skittles on February 26 was being secretive.

Feel free to replace Skittles with your favorite recreational drug and see how it reads.  Exactly the same except without the “The Onion” feel to it. (The Onion, for those that don’t know, is a fake news site aimed at humorous stories)

Robin Prosser, a Missoula woman who struggled for a quarter century to live with the pain of an immunosuppressive disorder, tried years ago to kill herself. Last week, she tried again. This time, she succeeded.

After her earlier attempt failed, Prosser wound up in even more trouble after investigating police found marijuana in her home. She used the marijuana to help cope with pain.

That marijuana charge was eventually dropped in an agreement with the city of Missoula, and Prosser had reason to rejoice in 2004 when Montanans passed a law allowing medical use of the drug.

Unfortunately, thanks to the efforts of our Government, and in particular the DEA, Prosser was unable to gain access to the marijuana that she needed medically. Due to an allergic reaction to most pharmaceuticals, marijuana was the only way for her to relieve the pain.

I won’t say that I advocate suicide, because I don’t, but what else is a person supposed to do? The woman couldn’t go outside due to a reaction to sunlight. She couldn’t take pharmaceuticals due to allergic reactions. She could, however, use marijuana to dampen the pain enough to make it livable.

I think it’s entirely too bad that the Government is unwilling to give up the tax money for the “war on drugs” and make marijuana a medically available drug. It certainly isn’t any worse than alcohol or many of the other FDA approved prescription medicines.

How many people have to die (or kill themselves) before we try something different?