GREELEY — School officials in northern Colorado are asking parents to take care with their newly legal recreational marijuana, after fourth-graders were caught dealing the drug on an elementary school campus.
John Gates, director of safety for Weld County School District 6, said Wednesday that the students involved, three 10-year-old boys and a 10-year-old girl at Greeley’s Monfort Elementary School, faced tough discipline but not suspension or expulsion. He would not elaborate on their punishment.
Only one student admitted to trying any of the drug, a small bite of an edible marijuana item, and a subsequent medical exam did not indicate any harmful effect, Gates said.
The marijuana appears to have been purchased legally by adults — grandparents in two families — and no charges were expected to be filed, Gates said. He said the parents of the students were concerned and working with the school on discipline.
Gates said a student who was not involved alerted school officials that a student sold marijuana to other students Monday, and that on Tuesday a student tried to trade edible marijuana for some of the student seller’s marijuana.
“This could not have happened had they secured their marijuana,” Gates said of the grandparents, urging adults to take care with the drug. “Nothing good’s going to come from having 10-year-olds find it, use it or take it to school.”
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In a letter sent home Tuesday, Monfort Principal Jennifer Sheldon told parents that because it’s easier for adults to get marijuana, children potentially have greater access. Denver TV station KDVR posted the letter on its website:
“We urge all parents, grandparents and anyone who cares for children to treat marijuana as you would prescription drugs, alcohol or even firearms. This drug is potentially lethal to children, and should always be kept under lock and key, away from young people.”
Gina Carbone, who helped found the group Smart Colorado to publicize concerns about the impact on children of marijuana legalization, applauded Sheldon’s letter. Days after thousands publicly lit up for the 4/20 marijuana festival in Denver, Carbone said the public is hearing too much from marijuana proponents and not enough about the drug’s dangers.
