Berkeley High parents received an email late last night that suggests that the school’s administration is putting its laissez-faire reputation behind it:

Recently two students walking across the BHS upper courtyard saw another student with a container of cookies and asked for one. After eating the cookie both students became ill enough to require medical attention. As a result of the medical visit it was determined that the cookie contained marijuana. The student who furnished the cookie to the students was identified and suspended immediately. This incident was also reported to the Berkeley Police Department. Please remind your student to use good judgment when accepting any edible items from other students.

As a parent, I think there are two ways to react to the email. You could think, “Oh my god, how can there be kids handing out cookies with marijuana?” Or, you could think, “These things happen at high schools. It sounds like the administration acted promptly and sensibly.” My view is the latter.

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Lance Knobel (Berkeleyside co-founder) has been a journalist for nearly 40 years. Much of his career was in business journalism. He was editor-in-chief of both Management Today, the leading business magazine...