Five Barlow Students Arrested on Pot Charges

Five students were arrested on marijuana-related charges at on Friday, Dec. 1.

Are drugs a problem ? Not more so than they might be with other teens, .

“As disturbing as this incident may be, it does not surprise me that not all teenagers who are enrolled in Barlow are drug free,” he told Patch. “None of the 11 high schools with which I’ve been involved over my career — in the Midwest, the Pacific Northwest and the Northeast — could make that claim.”

According to Redding Police Chief Douglas Fuchs, officers responded to the high school after receiving a report from administrators that two students were each in possession of a small quantity of marijuana. One 14-year-old male was charged with possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia and was released into custody of his parents. He is to appear in court later this month.

In an incident related to that arrest, police issued an infraction to a 17-year-old male for possession of drug paraphernalia.

Conducting an investigation, police also charged a 15-year-old male with distribution of marijuana. He was later released into the custody of his parents and given a court date later this month.

Continuing the investigation, police arrested a 17-year-old Easton male and charged him with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. As a result of that arrest, officers subsequently searched a private residence in Easton and recovered an additional quantity of marijuana. He is to appear in court later this month.

In an unrelated incident, police charged a 15-year-old female with possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. She was released to her parents and is to appear in court later this month.

Kids will be kids, no doubt. Region 9 Board of Education Chairman Mark Lewis said he doesn’t think there’s a unique problem at Barlow.

“I do not believe that Barlow has a drug problem nor that the experiences there are any different than high schools in similar communities. Things do go in cycles and it has been a number of years since the last serious outbreak,” he told Patch. “My amateur view is that every few years the new group of children at the school have forgotten how closely the adults in the school, who are not clueless, monitor student behavior.”

Josefsberg said he believes Barlow teachers and administrators have done their job education youth about the dangers of drug use.

“For me, the question is whether Barlow staff members are diligent in educating Barlow students about the pitfalls of drug use as well as responsible in their reactions to instances of drug use in the community (including the rare instances of drugs on campus),” Josefsberg said. “From what I’ve seen, the answer is ‘yes.’”

Josefsberg said he was “very impressed” with a Barlow team meeting held earlier this week in regards to this particular incident.

“Could we be even more diligent? Perhaps, yes . . . but at the expense of which of our other educational obligations?”

Lewis said he thinks the education programs in the schools which discourage alcohol and drug use are worthy programs.

“As a society as a whole, we have all not been as successful as we all would hope to be,” he said. “All parents and educators can do is to continue to set a good example by own our behavior, explain the dangers, be involved in the children’s lives and provide firm discipline in a loving way.”