Boulder Schools Nix Giant Rat Cages Intended to Scare Kids About Pot
Boulder, Colorado, public schools have decided not to install a giant rat cage intended to frighten kids away from smoking pot. That's great—but why was a giant rat cage ever a possibility?
Reason's Jacob Sullum wrote about the curious "Don't Be a Lab Rat" anti-drug campaign last week. The campaign was dreamed up by the state's Department of Public Health and Environment; as Sullum notes, its agenda is "relatively subtle." It purports to warn kids that the negative side effects of marijuana are still unknown, and by using the drug they are unwittingly becoming test subject.
Less subtle was the giant rat cage that state officials wanted to erect inside schools. Boulder school district administrators released a statement stating that no such cages will be featured on school property, however, according to The Daily Camera:
Boulder Valley School District, for one, already has announced it will not participate in the campaign.
"We had concerns about the use of human-scale rat cages being an effective tool for getting 12-to-15-year-olds to understand the risks involved with their developing brains," BVSD spokesman Briggs Gamblin said.
Superintendent Bruce Messinger emailed all district principals prior to the launch of the cages in Denver, informing them that the BVSD administration would formally oppose "Don't Be a Lab Rat" on the grounds that "a human scale 'rat cage'" may not be the most effective prop for the campaign's message.
I guess this counts as a slight win for prohibition sanity?
Hat tip: Greg Campbell / The Daily Caller
