TRI In The News

Suspension for Oregano a No-Go

From OneNewsNow
Original article available here.

The Rutherford Institute says officials at a Virginia middle school have rescinded the 10-day suspension of a student for possessing a plastic bag of oregano at school.

The civil liberties group says Hickory Middle School has decided that it will not expel 13-year-old Adam Grass for the reported offense.

John Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute, says the school's decision is a victory for common sense.

"This would have been a drug offense on his record for the rest of his life; they're not going to do that now. It will just be a minor infraction of supposedly school rules -- which, by the way, when we looked at the school rules, he really didn't break any rules so they knew that in the end," Whitehead says.

According to the organization president, someone handed the teen a bag of oregano and asked him to pass it to someone else. At no time did he believe it was marijuana, but he was kicked out of school for "possession of an imitation controlled substance." That is when the family sought legal help.

"The school knew that we had a case and we were going to sue them, so that's why they backed down," states Whitehead. "It wasn't because they all of a sudden felt benevolent or anything like that -- but the parents took a stand, they got us involved, and that's what you have to do: you gotta fight back."

Whitehead says more parents need to do what Adam's parents did in this case and exercise their parental rights.