Prescription Mints??

People are stupid.  Really, really, fucking stupid.  And they get away with it.

Two 4th grade teachers at Westchase Elementary School in Tampa, FL, decided they would be "creative" and help their students deal with FCAT jitters. Curing jitters could include some stress relief like exercise, or playing fun games.  But that's not what they decided.

One of the student's grandmothers, Sandy Young, says she walked into the classroom and saw orange prescription bottles sitting on everyone's desk.  Immediately, she was concerned.  Hell, I would be too.  A classroom full of 4th grade prescription drug abusers is something to be concerned about.

The teacher, Beth Watson, told the grandmother there were no drugs in the bottles, just mints.  Upon closer investigation, the bottles allegedly read "Watson's Whiz Kid Pharmacy. Take 1 tablet by mouth EVERY 5 MINUTES to cure FCAT jitters. Repeated use may cause craft to spontaneously ooze from pores. No refills. Ms. (Deborah) Falcon's authorization required."

WTF? Why would two educated teachers think it was appropriate to put mints in prescription pill bottles as a creative way to calm their students before they were about to take the FCATs? What is that teaching besides the only way to cure "jitters" (adult terms--stress) is by relying on the orange bottle and some white pills? Or, how about when the students go home and look in the medicine cabinet and find a prescription for Xanax or Percocet, and think the pills are actually mints like their stupid teachers imprinted in their brains?

Apparently, the teachers said the idea was tied to Roald Dahl's book, "George's Marvelous Medicine", which is about a boy who concocts potion to change the disposition of his cranky grandmother.

Um...not the same idea. Not even remotely close.

Potions are completely different than prescription pills! You don't see Harry Potter popping pills or using a tourniquet on his arm and injecting himself with a needle.  These teachers should be fired for their stupidity.  Instead, they will not even be disciplined because it was not their intention to promote drug use.

Really? Is that why they bought orange prescription bottles, filled them with white mints that resemble pills, wrote up a fake prescription to put on the bottle, and then doled them out to their students to medicate their jitters? No, that doesn't sound like promoting drug use to me. Not one bit.

Teachers have just as much impact on kids as parents do, and generally they should all be on the same page.  So, you try to keep your kids away from drugs at home, yet when they get to school, they get the message that it's okay? WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't wait for these kids to grow up.  This one incident may not have harmed them short term, but now all of these 4th graders have the idea that when life gets too hard, all they have to do is turn to an orange bottle and everything will go away.  I personally can't wait to see this entire class on A&E's Intervention in less than a decade.