“Taking meds at a predictable and regular time has solid medical evidence behind it–and some meds absolutely require it.”

Of course.

But that doesn’t mean it has to be during school hours.

If I have to stop every time I see a white pill passed in the hallway to see if Bayer is written on it, I’m going to look the other way.

A zero tolerance policy won’t eliminate a drug problem at a school, but without, it makes enforcement near impossible.

The presence of controlled OTC and prescription substances makes it much more logical and easier to regulate illegal drugs. The school my son went to that had that heavy-duty zero-tolerance program also had a very serious drug and alcohol problem–and the students were smuggling alcohol into school and dispensing it via breath spray. Under teacher supervision.

Furthermore, Mr. Wright, as you yourself state, “logical reasons aren’t necessarily good ones.” The logic of medical dosing supersedes the so-called logic of zero tolerance. Taking meds at a predictable and regular time has solid medical evidence behind it–and some meds absolutely require it. The school rule is simply one of convenience, not one based on biochemistry.

Convenience.

Logical reasons aren’t necessarily good ones.

The school has a logical and a good reason for the no pills on campus rule. Allowing OTC drugs would make it much harder to stop the possession and distribution of illegal drugs.

The comment about her being involved in activities means that she would not have a consistent schedule before or after school. Her lunch period probably is the most consistent time of the day for her. She had a logical reason for the time frame.

She should be allowed to take them at lunch.

No. I’d want him to just suffer through that pain until the school day was over.

Why? Because without a zero tolerance policy against pills, then there is no policy at all.

I’d rather have him go a school where drugs aren’t a serious problem.

It’s a trade-off.

There’s no real danger to anyone if a student has a couple of Tylenol in his backpack. Nor is there any danger if there is an unloaded gun.

And we don’t even know Miss Jackson is sexually active– birth control pills are occasionally prescribed to girls with particularly painful periods.

But–there are also lots of other things that start to intervene. There are the beliefs such as Robert Wright offered–that anything other than zero tolerance for anything that goes by the name of drug leads to overwhelming “drug problems.” But there have also been kerfuffles over who is to administer any medication. I believe it was California where legislation teetered back and forth with regard to whether a school employee could be trained to administer insulin. Nurses said no. IDEA says that kids with diabetes are to be accommodated. What this has frequently meant is that, in the absence of a school nurse either the parent had to be on call and make regular visits to administer the insulin (even if the child regularly self-administers at home–and the parent is not a nurse), or the child can be put on “home instruction.” This doesn’t even touch on grey areas like OTC meds in a high school student’s purse.

Even so, the appropriate response to policy breaches of this sort has to be along the lines of educating regarding the policy (and why it exists), and support for aligning with the policy–in order to protect the health and safety of the students.

Twenty-five minutes for lunch doesn’t leave enough time to walk to the nurses’ office, receive the medication, take it, return to the cafeteria, and eat lunch. I assume that her school has nurses on staff–that may be an unwarranted assumption.

The girl is an athlete. Early morning practices and a varied schedule of games lead to a disrupted schedule. Lunchtime may be the meal most likely to be at the same time each day. Of course, if she can’t carry it in her backpack, she must take it at home–so even when she could sleep in, she’d need to get up at 4:30, say, to take the pill at the same time each day.

It would be better to allow students to carry legally prescribed medication on their persons–medicines for asthma, allergies, birth control pills, tylenol.

By the logic of the schools, they shouldn’t serve coffee. The cafeteria shouldn’t serve anything made with eggs, wheat, milk, sesame, or soy, let alone peanuts. Someone could have an allergic reaction, and of course, strong coffee can really wake someone up.

Not allowing students to carry inhalers, epi-pens, and benadryl makes it much more likely that a student will go into anaphylactic shock.