Student´s suspension for smelling of pot provides whiff of what´s ahead for schools
(The Star Toronto Raptors)

On the first day of school, Tony stood outside the main office, in a lineup of students, waiting to pick up his timetable. He left with a three-day suspension slip.The reason? A vice-principal at Monsignor Percy Johnson Catholic Secondary School in Rexdale smelled marijuana.“I was stunned,� recalls the 16-year-old, whose real name the Star agreed to withhold. “I said, ‘I haven’t been smoking’ … I asked her if she wanted to check my bag … she refused.�It’s the kind of scene that could play out in other schools after recreational cannabis becomes legal in Canada on Oct. 17. With just over two weeks to go, few concrete steps have been taken to prepare for the impact legislation will have on schools, but educators say they are gearing up for a new reality and that teachers will be trained, policies will be updated and the curriculum tweaked.When Tony thinks of that day in September, he says nothing in his behaviour or appearance suggested he was high — the eleventh grader says he has never even tried weed. There was just a light scent of marijuana in the air, which he too had smelled.“The office was busy. I was not the only person in there. They could’ve done an inspection on the kids seeing if they had (marijuana). That’s not what they did.�Instead, Tony — who had never been suspended — was sent home for the rest of the week. A letter signed by Principal Joanne Melo states disciplinary action was taken because he was “under the influence of illegal drugs.� “(The vice-principal) picked the wrong person and was not willing to listen to him,� says Tony’s mother, adding he should have been given the “benefit of the doubt� in the absence of proof. “He was begging them to smell him and look in his bag.� She questions how the school concluded he was “under the influence� based on a smell, asking, “Wha ...