S.D. School Confiscates Teens' Medical-Marijuana T-shirts

[Wilbur]

Two Rapid City high school students who showed up to school wearing T-shirts advocating passage of South Dakota's medical-marijuana ballot issue have had those shirts confiscated.

A security guard told the two Stevens High School seniors to remove the shirts as they went to their first class on Oct. 20. The principal, Katie Bray, confiscated the shirts.

The students, David Valenzuela, 17, and Chris Fuentes, 18, said the confiscation violated their rights to political free speech.

But Peter Wharton, Rapid City superintendent, said it had nothing to do with free speech and everything to do with violating a policy forbidding clothing that displays images of alcohol, drugs or tobacco products on school grounds.

"Unequivocally, no. It had nothing to do with political speech," he said.

The green T-shirts featured an image of a marijuana leaf and the message "Vote Yes on Initiated Measure 4."

Students can wear political T-shirts as long as administrators determine the clothing is appropriate, Wharton said.

Some have worn T-shirts urging passage of South Dakota's abortion ban.

"We had been seeing all these abortion shirts at school, and we thought, OK, I guess we can get political," Valenzuela said.

The wording on Valenzuela's and Fuentes' T-shirts is allowed but the image of the marijuana leaf is not, Wharton said. Any student can advocate for passing the medical-marijuana measure as long as a drug insignia is not used, he said. "Advocate to your heart's content, but don't use a marijuana leaf to do it. It's against school policy."

Valenzuela said the action was unfair. "We're trying to get our viewpoint out and tell people what it (Initiated Measure 4) is, and we can't. We're just trying to spread Measure 4."

The picture of the marijuana leaf should be protected as political speech, said Valenzuela, who added that he was campaigning for a ballot issue, not promoting the use of an illegal drug.

"That's absurd," Wharton said. "I'm not even going to dignify that argument with a response."

Principal Bray returned the shirts to the students at the end of the school day. Valenzuela said she threatened them with suspension from school if they wore the shirts to class again.

"We were afraid of being expelled," he said.

"Then, I would have gotten involved," said Christine Horan, Valenzuela's mother. She said she supported her son's decision to wear the shirt but made him wear another shirt underneath it, just in case.


Newshawk: user - 420 Magazine
Source: First Amendment Center
Pubdate: 7 November 2006
Copyright: 2006 AP
Contact: gpolicinski@fac.org
Website: First Amendment Center

 

[420AM&PM]

I was gunna say thats fucked up, ... I still think its fucked up ... its only a leaf.

 

[Marianne]

Techniqly, they had a medical marijuana leaf on their shirts, which was representing an amendment to law. It was a picture of a future law, which represented that future law, so it shouldn't be considered illegal. As far as an illegal drug it was representing medical marijuana, not the street variety. We know those are the same thing but as far as law is concerned they're not.

 

[ScottyBThatIsMe]

Techniqly, they had a medical marijuana leaf on their shirts, which was representing an amendment to law. It was a picture of a future law, which represented that future law, so it shouldn't be considered illegal. As far as an illegal drug it was representing medical marijuana, not the street variety. We know those are the same thing but as far as law is concerned they're not.

Doesn't matter if it's medical marijuana or recreational marijuana, it's still marijuana. Schools across the nation all agree that the school is supposed to be a drug free environment, with neither the drugs nor the representation of them on school grounds. If someone came into school wearing a shirt with a bottle of pills on it and it was clear that the pills on the shirt were a drug, the shirt would need to be removed. If a measure were being voted on to ban alcohol, and a student came in with a shirt that said, "Ban alcohol!" and it had a big bottle of Jack Daniels with a red X through it, the shirt would still need to be removed. A drug is a drug, no matter how we may see it. It's a substance that alters your metabolism to act in ways it normally wouldn't in order to facilitate the healing process or to give you a reaction other than the "official" use.

That doesn't mean school administrators can't have their own agenda and either ignore the shirt, or go Super-Nazi and outright ban even the word "pot" from clothing in school, it just means that the technical issue here is a valid one, and they had the right to take away the shirts.

I like how the mother of that one boy was at least rational and realistic enough to realize that it would probably get him some unwanted attention. The fact that you can acknowledge that what you are doing can be construed as being 'against the rules' indicates that you know exactly what you are saying when you put on a shirt with a marijuana leaf on it. You can't hide behind ignorace or innocence on that.

 

[smokemagnet]

IT"S a fucking plant........... if they wore a shirt with a alovera leaf would that be wrong just a thought

 

[chronic64]

c'mon you noobs..... you can't go around promoting weed esp in a school where kids go to LEARN.

 

[ScottyBThatIsMe]

In that case, you probably are correct. But honestly think, do you really think the school would remove a shirt like that. They would most likely support a shirt like that because of the assholes they are. But OHHHHHHHHH NOOOOOO. When there is a medical marijuana shirt at subject, they think it is harmful.

I've already said that administrators will have their own agendas. Some might even be willling to let the pot shirts slide, but it's doubtless that inaction on the administration's part would cause rioting among the community. Marijuana is just too touchy an issue to joke around with when it comes to school policy.

 

[merickson]

The state does not have the power to control the images used to promote political messages. It does not have the power to forbid people using the image of the marijuana leaf to promote legalization, anymore than it has the power to ban burning the flag to promote a change in US forgein policy.

If the image on the t-shirt is a standard for the campaign, I don't see how they can consider the image seperatly from the campaign message.


(The wise ass in me wonders what they would do with a MJ leaf with "Meth Kills" written over it. How about "Do your homework". Best yet, an anti-pot that shows a leaf with "Obey the Law". How about a picture of a condom with a safe sex message?)

(another wise assed suggestion. In graphic or picture poetry (Picture Poetry) the choice of line breaks causes the words to look like a picture. How about the Constitution with in the shape of a leaf. Or maybe the text of the regulation.)

 

[ScottyBThatIsMe]

The state does not have the power to control the images used to promote political messages. It does not have the power to forbid people using the image of the marijuana leaf to promote legalization, anymore than it has the power to ban burning the flag to promote a change in US forgein policy.

If the image on the t-shirt is a standard for the campaign, I don't see how they can consider the image seperatly from the campaign message.


(The wise ass in me wonders what they would do with a MJ leaf with "Meth Kills" written over it. How about "Do your homework". Best yet, an anti-pot that shows a leaf with "Obey the Law". How about a picture of a condom with a safe sex message?)

(another wise assed suggestion. In graphic or picture poetry (Picture Poetry) the choice of line breaks causes the words to look like a picture. How about the Constitution with in the shape of a leaf. Or maybe the text of the regulation.)

You're not getting the point though, bud. It's not allowed in schools. In school, at least lower education (k-12), once you enter school grounds, your rights go out the window for the most part. Freedom of speech is pretty limited, and everything needs to be approved by the administration before it's allowed. School's have their own laws, some are district wide, some are state wide, some are school-specific, but they all have a set of laws seperate from state and federal government, or more accurately, supplementing state and federal governemnt laws.

Think about it, they can mandate drug screenings, they can mandate rehibilitation, they can mandate counseling, etc. What makes you think they can not say, "No shirts depicting drugs, violence, or sex" ?

Again, some circumstances will be different, and allowances will be made for certain things, but for the most part, any kind of drug is automatic ban-material as far as school is concerned.

 

[Apollo]

actually it depends on the state if they can mandate drug tests, but thats not the point...

i got in trouble for an anarchy symbol, but the supreme court ruled that the symbol was allowed, idk, i still wore the jacket alot just to piss the principal off...

another funny thing bout this story is south dakota is my home state... up until november

 

[Stoner4Life]

Well this is a great place to mention this book. "It's Just a Plant" by Ricardo Cortes. It's a childrens book appropriate to be in school libraries..... but won't.
There are only a shitload of adults who could learn from it too....... but won't.

If there are children in your family you should buy this book. If there are MJ ignorant people in your family you should buy this book. It is age appropriate for ALL people uninformed of the truth of MJ.

$20 shipping incl from www.magicpropagandamill.com