School administrators in Buffalo, Mo. suspended a teenage girl for drug possession last May after reading her personal diary and finding several references to marijuana.

The girl’s father, Tom Grayhorse, revealed the situation to local media this week in an attempt to bring attention to his daughter’s seven month suspension.

“It was a personal notebook. It wasn’t a school notebook she had to turn in,” Grayhorse told the Springfield News-Leader. “She didn’t write anything about being in al-Qaida, she didn’t write about giving (marijuana) to anybody else, so why did she receive such a harsh punishment?”

The incident began when several members of the school staff found the teen’s diary, which was inadvertently left at school, and began reading through it. School administrators say the notebook contained passages about experimenting with marijuana and possibly bringing it to school.

The suspension, which was originally set for 10-days, was later extended to more than seven months, causing the student to lose valuable credits needed to graduate. Grayhorse has since met with the Dallas County school board to question the “possession of a controlled substance” claim and to appeal the length of the suspension.

“Her ‘possession’ constitutes writing something? That is the alleged possession?” Grayhorse asked. “If she had any appreciable amount (on her), I’d be upset and she should be punished. She had no cannabis on her person. She gave it to no one.”

Grayhorse also questioned whether or not the comments were fictional, noting that the school has yet to return the notebook.

“She does write fiction stories. She likes to write,” Grayhorse said. “It could have been part of a story.”

According to Dallas County Superintendent Robin Ritchie, such “drug offenses” are taken seriously by the school district.

“Anything that’s drug-related or alcohol-related, we are going to have zero tolerance,” Ritchie said. “The school’s side is we always take drug and alcohol offenses seriously and they are fully investigated.”

Aside from teachers reading through the student’s personal journal without permission, the charge of drug possession for simply referencing marijuana represents a new low in “zero tolerance” policies.

Similarly, a 16-year-old student in South Carolina was suspended and arrested just last month for writing a story about shooting a dinosaur.

“A 65 million year gap between the story and reality didn’t seem to matter to teachers who immediately suspended Stone for a week, searched his bookbag and locker – finding nothing – and then inexplicably called the police,” noted Infowars’ Steve Watson.

Other cases such as the second grade student who was suspended for chewing his Pop Tart breakfast pastry in the shape of a gun only highlight the growing absurdity of zero tolerance policies.

H/T: Robby Soave

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