BRUNSWICK SCHOOL
FEBUARY 2014
MONTHLY MAILING Mixed Messages For decades now, schools and parents have been taking the time to speak to children about the manifest danger of drugs. At Brunswick School, like many schools, we regularly present programs to our students emphasizing and explaining these dangers and we have rules in place that are severely punitive for any student who is, to any degree, found to be involved with drugs (use, possession, etc.). We have always taken it as a given that these programs and these rules are necessary because the dangers of drug use are so severe. However, now we, and more importantly our children, are hearing that marijuana is not only legal in some states as medicine but, most recently, legal in Colorado for purchase and recreational use. Sadly, therefore, for many of our students, the messages they have heard so often for so many years just do not correlate with this new reality. -‐ -‐ -‐
Either drugs are bad or they are not. Either inhaling substances into your lungs (whether tobacco or marijuana) is bad for you, or it’s not. Why is something that is OK in Colorado not OK in Connecticut?
The bottom line is that our kids are receiving mixed messages. Mixed messages cause confusion and confusion promotes bad decisions. In the event that they (or you) are confused, and in an effort to help clarify things, I offer the following: Brunswick School does not stop caring about our students as soon as they leave campus for the day. We feel strongly that drugs of any kind (and alcohol for that matter) have absolutely no place in the lives of our students and should never be welcomed at a gathering at which Brunswick students are present. Brunswick’s sole purpose is to prepare young men for life . . . we will do all in our power to ensure that drugs are not a part of that life ahead. We have no confusion about that.