Pubdate: Sun, 17 Feb 2002
Source: San Francisco Examiner (CA)
Copyright: 2002 San Francisco Examiner
Contact:  http://www.examiner.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/389
Author: Associated Press

JR. HIGH NOT HIGH ON MED POT PROJECT

SANTA CRUZ -- School officials are considering whether to snuff out a 
13-year-old girls' science project that examines medical uses for marijuana.

The junior high school student was allowed to present her report to 
classmates Thursday, but afterward school officials confiscated her props, 
including a marijuana-laced muffin and a spray bottle of pot- steeped 
rubbing alcohol.

The girl's father, Joe Morris, said Mission Hill Junior High officials gave 
initial clearance for the project and should have said something earlier if 
they objected.

"Don't children have constitutional rights?" Morris said. "In a way, it's 
censorship and that's not acceptable."

But he said he might have erred in letting his daughter take the props to 
school.

"I should have used better judgment," he said, noting he was grateful the 
school returned the props to him, rather than calling law enforcement.

Morris said his daughter became interested in the subject because her aunt 
is a caregiver for a woman who uses marijuana as a medicine. The girl 
didn't advocate marijuana use, he said, but instead researched the project 
with library books and patient surveys and analyzed and graphed her findings.

School officials haven't yet decided if the girl can display her "Mary Jane 
for Pain" project this week when judges from UC Santa Cruz and the 
NASA/Ames Research Lab award prizes.

"I'm going to have to take a look at the science to see if it fits the 
criteria," Principal Cathy Stefanki-Iglesias said. "I'm not so convinced it 
does at the moment."

Valerie Corral, executive director of a group that provides medical 
marijuana, told the Santa Cruz Sentinel the project was a good one but it 
was inappropriate to let the girl take the prescriptive pot to school.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom