Educators see rise in student drug use, blame medical marijuana
 Educators see rise in student drug use, blame medical marijuana In April, an aide brought a student to C.M. Russell High School Principal Dick Kloppel's office. It was 8:15 a.m. and the student smelled of marijuana. The aide suspected that the student was high. The girl told Kloppel she drove her boyfriend to school and that he was smoking his medical marijuana in the car. He is a Montana "green-card" holder, meaning he can legally possess and smoke marijuana to alleviate pain. Kloppel then inspected the student's car. "You could smell the marijuana from outside the car. It was almost blue in the car," he said. Through the smoke, Kloppel spotted a baby seat in the back. The principal believed that the couple's 4-month-old baby likely had been riding in the car. "Looking at her (the student), there was no way she wasn't high. But she said she wasn't using it, and there was nothing in her possession," Kloppel said. With no admission of guilt, there was nothing the administration could do but send her back to class. This instance is not isolated. More Great Falls teenagers are smoking marijuana than counselors and administrators have ever seen before. Kloppel and Fred Anderson, principal at Great Falls High School, say that is because of the growing use of medical marijuana in the community. "I strongly believe it is directly attributable to the increased availability of the drug through caregivers and cardholders," Kloppel said.
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