So this poor chump of a 12-year-old in suburban Chicago brings powdered sugar to school "for a science project." Another kid asks him if it's cocaine, and he says "sure," then adds quickly that he's just kidding. He's arrested anyway, and charged with a felony for "possessing a look-alike drug." Zero tolerance strikes again.
You might have thought the kid went wrong by saying it was cocaine, but you might be wrong. Most "look-alike" drug laws seem to start out with the sensible idea that selling what you claim to be a drug entices law-breaking intent from the other party, just the same as if it were a real drug. Indiana law (IC35-48-4-4.6), for example, makes it a Class D felony to "deliver a substance expressly or impliedly represented to be a controlled substance." That doesn't mean a school system is jsut going to leave it at that. This, for example, is from the student code of conduct for Lowell, Ind., middle schools: "The possession and/or sale and/or use of any controlled drug, look-alike drug, drug paraphernalia, any prescription medication, volatile substance, or alcoholic beverage on or in the vicinity of school property or at any school function is a violation of school rules and will result in the immediate suspension from school and all school activities for the duration of the suspension" I haven't looked at them all, but I'd bet most school drug policies are about the same.
