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Student remains center of controversy over marijuana speech
By Hempology | June 18, 2007
National Post, Canada
14 Jun 2007
James Cowan
SCHOOL SUSPENDS TEEN FOR DISCUSSING DRUGS
‘Just Giving Statistics’
Sask. Student Shared Research With Classmates
Kieran King says he’s never seen marijuana, let alone smoked or sold it. But cannabis has been causing problems for the 15-year-old honour student lately, ever since a fellow student complained about Kieran expressing his opinions on pot.
The Grade 10 student, from Wawota, Sask., a town with a population of 616 people two hours from Regina, is now at the centre of a controversy that pits a student’s right to free speech and a push for open academic debate against the desire of school administrators to maintain a drug-free message.
Kieran, a student with high marks and plans to spend next year studying in China, said he began researching facts about marijuana several months ago to supplement information he received in school. “That’s kind of the person I am,” Kieran said in a phone interview. “I tend to look things up to make sure I’m getting the whole story, the full story.”
Kieran shared the information he found with classmates around the lunch table, mentioning studies that suggest marijuana kills fewer people than tobacco or alcohol. He also opined that marijuana use should be legal in Canada. “I wasn’t selling any drugs, I was just giving out statistics,” Kieran said.
One of his fellow students complained to Susan Wilson, the principal at Wawota Parkland School, who in turn called Keiran’s mother on May 29. During the phone conversation, Kieran said he was accused of “soliciting the sale of drugs to minors and others within the school.”
Kieran said Ms. Wilson also threatened to call the police, but a spokesman for the school yesterday denied that the threat was made.
Don Rempel, the director of education for the South East Cornerstone school division, said Ms. Wilson was simply informing Kieran of the possible consequences of using or selling drugs on school property.
“The principal was just indicating that we don’t want to promote drug use within our school and certainly school rules are such that if there were any drugs brought into the school, the police could be involved,” Mr. Rempel said.
Following the call, Kieran wrote about his experience on an Internet chat board, drawing the interest of the Saskatchewan Marijuana Party. Working with the party, Kieran began planning a walkout to protest his treatment. Selecting Tuesday as a date, he spread word through the student body. A few flyers were distributed that morning.
Moments before the protest was scheduled to begin, school officials declared a lockdown and warned any students who left the building would be punished.
Four students initially defied the lockdown order, but two quickly returned inside for fear of reprisal. In the end, Kieran and his brother, Luke, were the only students to participate in the 90-minute protest. They were joined by a handful of Marijuana Party members along with a representative of the NDP.
According to Mr. Rempel, the two brothers were suspended on Tuesday afternoon for disobeying the instructions of school officials.
Mr. Rempel said the lockdown was declared because of the presence of unfamiliar individuals on school property.
Ethan Erkiletan, a member of the Marijuana Party’s executive, argued the lockdown was a further attempt to stifle Kieran and prevent him from expressing his point of view.
“We think this particular action has been heavy-handed and unjustified,” Mr. Erkiletan said. “Schools have the understandable ability to restrict freedom of speech within their walls when it comes to issue like Holocaust denial, but we think reasonable debate and freedom of expression should be guaranteed and protected.”
Mr. Rempel contends the school board had a duty to enforce certain codes of conduct. “Public schools are not public places like shopping malls where students can gather and talk about any issue that they wish,” he said. “We have teachers and principals who have expectations for student conduct in a safe and orderly climate.”
Andrew Lokan, a Toronto-based constitutional lawyer, said the school board would be hard-pressed to justify its actions.
Mr. Lokan noted many of the arguments made by Kieran have been presented at the Supreme Court of Canada. “[Kieran] may understand our Constitution and matters of social policy better than the school does,” Mr. Lokan said.
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