Pubdate: Fri, 02 Dec 2005
Source: Boston Herald (MA)
Copyright: 2005 The Boston Herald, Inc
Contact:  http://news.bostonherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/53
Author: Laura Crimaldi and Norman Miller, Boston Herald and MetroWest 
Daily News
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

SHOWS KIDS LEARN TO WEED IN MIDDLE SCHOOL'

In another sign that kids are knee-high in the drug trade, two 
Framingham middle-schoolers were busted by police after a 13-year-old 
was caught allegedly peddling pot to a younger boy. "It's probably 
more common than most of us realize," said Kevin Norton, head of CAB 
Health and Recovery Services in Boston. "And the fact that they 
caught kids who are selling that means they must have a market to 
sell to." The alarming arrest is one of several recent Bay State 
cases in which children have become tangled in the drug trade.

In Norwood, an 11-year-old graduate of a middle school DARE program 
was caught last month with pot in her locker. Two weeks earlier, a 
14-year-old boy at the school was also busted with pot. In Lawrence, 
a middle-schooler from New York was found with a quantity of heroin 
large enough for him to be charged with drug trafficking, police 
said. Police say the boy was likely an unwitting mule. In the 
Framingham case, two boys, ages 12 and 13, were arrested at the 
Cameron Middle School on Wednesday after officials found marijuana on 
the younger boy. The 12-year-old boy told police he bought the drug 
from a 13-year-old off school property, said Framingham police Lt. 
Vincent Alfano. Both students were charged with possession of 
marijuana and released to their parents, police said. Both were 
suspended, said Cameron Principal Judith Kelly. "It is a different 
day and age than when I was young," she said."The parents were very 
surprised. We were very surprised, and chagrined." Alfano said the 
ages of the two pint-size suspects was surprising. "We don't 
frequently encounter it at that age level," Alfano said. But Margo 
Deane, executive director of the Framingham Coalition Against Alcohol 
and Drug Abuse, said: 'I do screenings for the drug court, and many 
of them (users) say they started at 9." For young dealers who sell 
dope to their friends, jail time is not a given. The 11-year-old 
Norwood girl, for example, was not arrested, but summoned to juvenile court.

In Somerville, if police find children with a small amount of 
marijuana, they release them to their parents, said Lt. Paul Upton. 
"You bring her to the police department and our intent is not to lock 
all the kids up. We can help them with outreach," said Paul Bishop, a 
spokesman for the Norwood police department. Authorities are not yet 
ready to call the rash of recent cases a trend. "We don't see that 
too often," said State Police Lt. Dennis Brooks, who is assigned to 
the Middlesex District Attorney. Police said children that young are 
usually pulled into the drug trade by adults as unwitting 
participants. "You have people who don't care. They put the children 
right in the middle," Brooks said.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman