Tylenol, Excedrin, and Midol aren’t usually comparable to heroin, cocaine, and marijuana. In the article Teen-age Midol Junkies by Wendy Kaminer, it tells the story of two eighth grade students were suspended for having Midol pills for their menstrual cramps. The punishments they received were ten and eighty day suspensions from school. The two girls went into the nurse’s office and took it without permission, and the school board considered it “drug possession”. A similar case occurred in New York, where a first grade boy kissed his classmate on the cheek and got suspended for sexual harassment. The article then went into further detail, posing the question, are law enforcers going overboard?

Peer pressure is a norm amongst young adults. It is believed by some to be the cause of many drug abuse problems. It is understandable that schools would want to try to prevent this, but if this is true, shouldn’t they be focusing on more harmful drugs? There are far worse substances out there: cocaine, heroin, meth, and the list goes on. Midol is an over the counter drug used to relieve pain. It isn’t commonly abused. The punishments for the “possession” were far too severe.


The amount of time and money that goes into apprehending drug pushers and users is ridiculous. With the economy in its current state, it only seems logic that our tax money be used to obtain more “damaging” criminals, such as murderers and rapists. In the article, it stated that over 60% of criminals in prison were arrested for only possession of drugs, marijuana being the most common. Would it be wise to have a twenty year old in jail for weed possession, or a sexual predator take his place? Taxes are high enough, and the citizens of this country should be paying for proper protection and wise budgeting decisions.

It is a proven fact that drugs can be harmful to the body. There are drugs that are much less harmful. Marijuana is the most commonly used drug in the world; it has been researched by scientists around the world, medical doctors, and the FDA. Many research projects show that the drug is not as harmful as it may appear. Doctor Leslie Iversen quoted, “Tetrahydrocannabinol is a very safe drug. Laboratory animals (rats, mice, dogs, monkeys) can tolerate doses of up to 1,000 mg/kg (milligrams per kilogram). This would be equivalent to a 70 kg person swallowing 70 grams of the drug -- about 5,000 times more than is required to produce a high. Despite the widespread illicit use of cannabis there are very few if any instances of people dying from an overdose. In Britain, official government statistics listed five deaths from cannabis in the period 1993-1995 but on closer examination these proved to have been deaths due to inhalation of vomit that could not be directly attributed to cannabis (House of Lords Report, 1998). By comparison with other commonly used recreational drugs these statistics are impressive”. Although it isn’t proven to be necessarily GOOD for you, there are much worse drugs that are legal. Anti-depressants and alcohol are all heavily abused, and have equal if not worse effects than marijuana and other illegal drugs. Drug laws have become so strict, pain medication that is sold over the counter isn’t even allowed. If a young woman can’t carry around common medication without severe punishment, then I think this country is going crazy.