Pubdate: Tue, 29 Nov 2005
Source: Daytona Beach News-Journal (FL)
Copyright: 2005 News-Journal Corporation
Contact:  http://www.news-journalonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/700
Note: gives priority to local writers
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?225 (Students - United States)

PARSLEY-POT RUSE GETS KIDS SUSPENDED

PALM COAST -- Two Flagler County elementary school pupils were 
arrested last week after pretending a plastic bag of parsley was marijuana.

An arrest report by Cpl. Don Apperson, a school resource deputy with 
the Flagler County Sheriff's Office, said the two girls, each 
10-year-old pupils at Old Kings Elementary School, were showing 
classmates a plastic bag with a green leafy substance they said was marijuana.

School officials learned of the alleged bag of marijuana and called 
the girls into a conference with their parents. The girls admitted 
they did not have marijuana and said that the bag of parsley, which 
they brought to school in their book bags, was a prank, the report said.

The girls were charged under a state law that makes it a crime to 
claim that a substance is a drug -- whether or not the item is 
intended for sale or distribution, according to Sheriff's Office 
spokeswoman Debra Johnson. They were taken to the Flagler County 
Inmate Facility and later released to their parents.

The girls were also suspended from school and ordered to attend drug 
awareness classes. 
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake