I didn’t laugh audibly. The chuckles had begun bubbling up from my belly, yet somehow never reached my throat.
It took me a while to understand why, but the reason is this: It’s somewhat funny … but mostly, it’s just terrible.
I’m referring to the news out of Anne Arundel County, Maryland that a student at Broadneck High School gave his teacher a piece of a pot brownie.
If you have a very visual imagination, like I do, you might be tempted to piece together a humorous scene, adding your own amusing details: A prim and proper teacher, perhaps with a tightly-wound bun and the type of horn-rimmed glasses that aren’t so much trendy as they are perfect for sternly staring down unruly students. A mischievous, Ferris Bueller-like teen looking to have just a little fun and help his straight-laced teacher let loose. He offers her a piece of brownie; she politely accepts … and, not long afterward, starts acting uncharacteristically loopy, warbling her favorite TV theme songs and clapping eraser dust in unsuspecting colleagues’ faces. Hilarious, right?
Maybe not. Even if any of these details were true, this still wouldn’t actually be that funny … because generally speaking, giving anyone any sort of food or drink laced with a drug is not funny. It’s potentially dangerous. It’s unquestionably awful.
Would we think it was funny if, instead of giving the teacher a brownie laced with marijuana, the student gave her a cup of lemonade laced with Rohypnol, a.k.a. a roofie? Of course not.
But it’s just pot, you might say. It’s not nearly as dangerous — and now even legal for recreational use in a few states! The thing is, as with any controlled substance, different people can react differently to it — even marijuana-advocacy magazine High Times concedes that marijuana has side effects and can also cause allergic reactions in some folks.
The point is not what drug was used — the point is that no drug should have ever been used, period. No matter how widely a drug is legalized, a person should never be in a situation where he or she unknowingly ingests it.
I don’t mean to vilify the student in this case. According to one report, the teen’s intentions may not have been as nefarious as they initially seemed. He told police he only gave the teacher the brownie after she asked for a piece and he “panicked.” It’s almost understandable — teens can do very dumb things (like bringing pot brownies to school in the first place) and might feel hard-pressed to refuse a request from an authority figure.
But what I do want to stress is that it’s important that such incidents aren’t taken lightly. They shouldn’t be shrugged off with knowing smirks and “oh, kids will be kids”-style chuckles that help normalize the very idea of tricking someone into consuming a drug.
The Maryland teacher was treated in a hospital and released, fortunately, the same day she ate the brownie. The student was charged with several criminal counts. Surely, he learned his lesson and, with any luck, his example will dissuade would-be pot brownie pranksters.
There are many things to laugh at in this world. Let’s not give this half-baked story more yuks than it deserves.
Image courtesy of ThinkStock