# Zero tolerance gone amok... again!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tolerance-gone-amok-again/278631
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [December 7, 2004, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tolerance-gone-amok-again/278631 "2004-12-07T22:32:56Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2004, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tolerance-gone-amok-again/278631/1 "2004-12-07T22:32:56Z")
From [this](http://www.katc.com/Global/story.asp?S=2659211) story.
Apparently, an eight-year old student in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana was suspended for bring Jello Cups from home. The reason? They look like a drug. :rolleyes:
As James Taranto, of the Wall Street Journal points out:
> [@](#):
>
> Things sure have changed since we were young. At our elementary school they had a drinking fountain that dispensed a liquid that looked just like vodka!
(As an aside, maybe I’m just very naive – but what drug resembles Jello?)
Zev Steinhardt
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### Author:  [@ReuvenB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReuvenB)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2004, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tolerance-gone-amok-again/278631/2 "2004-12-07T22:34:33Z")
Ugh. Why do we replace common sense with zero tolerance?
Oh, and have a festive Chanuka, **zev**.
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### Author:  [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2004, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tolerance-gone-amok-again/278631/3 "2004-12-07T22:36:45Z")
My question as well, **zev** - what the hell are they talking about? I’m only 37 and thought I was pretty hip, but I have never seen a drug that looked like a Jell-O cup (and I have seen just about everything, or so I thought…).
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### Author:  [@catsix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catsix)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2004, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tolerance-gone-amok-again/278631/4 "2004-12-07T22:38:24Z")
Jell-O shots maybe.
Hence the drinking fountain/vodka reference.
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### Author:  [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2004, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tolerance-gone-amok-again/278631/5 "2004-12-07T22:39:19Z")
OK, I found it (I think). Some booze company is marketing “Jello shots.” Stupid.
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### Author:  [@PinkMarabou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PinkMarabou)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2004, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tolerance-gone-amok-again/278631/6 "2004-12-07T22:40:01Z")
> [@zev\_steinhardt](#):
>
> From [this](http://www.katc.com/Global/story.asp?S=2659211) story.
>
> Apparently, an eight-year old student in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana was suspended for bring Jello Cups from home. The reason? They look like a drug. :rolleyes:
>
> As James Taranto, of the Wall Street Journal points out:
>
> (As an aside, maybe I’m just very naive – but what drug resembles Jello?)
>
> Zev Steinhardt
It appears from the story they might have thought it was a Jello Shot . . . ? I’m fairly experienced in both arenas and the only thing I could come up with is the alcohol thing.
As a side note: maybe someone is being intelligent for once and calling alcohol what it is . . . a drug.
:rolleyes:
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### Author:  [@ShockingAlberto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShockingAlberto)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2004, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tolerance-gone-amok-again/278631/7 "2004-12-07T22:40:42Z")
It’s certainly possible, but probably not for such a young kid. I remember when I was in high school, someone in my world history class was drinking a Dasani bottle with vodka in it (as he was telling everyone it was). I smelled the bottle and yeah, it was vodka. I told my then-girlfriend about it as anecdote and she forced me to report it or she’d do it for me. Apparently, not only did they discover vodka in his locker, but about a year’s worth of weed, which he was selling to the Elementary School across the street (luckily, he hadn’t gotten the chance yet).
But yeah, I agree Jello Cups are a little far. Unless there were any reason to suspect it (i.e., it smells odd), then they’re freaking out over nothing.
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### Author:  [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2004, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tolerance-gone-amok-again/278631/8 "2004-12-07T22:41:34Z")
Wow, and I thought things were bad when I was in high school back in the mid-90’s.
I weep for my unborn children and the world they will grow up in.
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### Author:  [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2004, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tolerance-gone-amok-again/278631/9 "2004-12-07T22:41:40Z")
OK, OK. I’ve never heard of Jello shots. (I am pretty naive about drugs and such).
But what next? Ban powdered donuts because the confectioner’s sugar resembles a drug?
Zev Steinhardt
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### Author:  [@Spongemom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spongemom)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2004, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tolerance-gone-amok-again/278631/10 "2004-12-07T22:41:42Z")
> [@catsix](#):
>
> Jell-O shots maybe.
>
> Hence the drinking fountain/vodka reference.
Looks that way:
> [@](#):
>
> Her mom says the school tested the Jell-O and determined it didn’t have any alcohol in it. But the school suspended the girl for having a look alike drug.
Just another way for adults to absolve themselves of any rational thinking whatsoever.
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### Author:  [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2004, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tolerance-gone-amok-again/278631/11 "2004-12-07T22:42:42Z")
Zero-tolerance rules can hamstring an administration. Even if they know it’s stupid, it’s policy and they are not allowed to circumvent it by themselves.
It is idiocy.
Thank the school board, this is their baby.
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### Author:  [@catsix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catsix)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2004, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tolerance-gone-amok-again/278631/12 "2004-12-07T22:43:25Z")
A ‘look-alike’ drug?
Jell-O markets the damn little, one serving cups, specifically to be packed in lunches.
This is fucking ridiculous already.
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### Author:  [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2004, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tolerance-gone-amok-again/278631/13 "2004-12-07T22:44:45Z")
I’m sure the problem was that it was homemade, **cat**.
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### Author:  [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2004, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tolerance-gone-amok-again/278631/14 "2004-12-07T22:48:29Z")
> [@zev\_steinhardt](#):
>
> OK, OK. I’ve never heard of Jello shots. (I am pretty naive about drugs and such).
Jello made with vodka, usually in small cups. It doesn’t taste much like alcohol and you can get wasted really, really fast.
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### Author:  [@catsix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catsix)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2004, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tolerance-gone-amok-again/278631/15 "2004-12-07T22:56:46Z")
Yeah, bad on them for trying to save some money and make their own Jell-O cups and not spend the outrageous prices for the prepackaged ones.
I no longer think society is headed for a nosedive. I think the nosedive has already begun.
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### Author:  [@Spongemom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spongemom)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2004, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tolerance-gone-amok-again/278631/16 "2004-12-07T22:59:53Z")
> [@catsix](#):
>
> I no longer think society is headed for a nosedive. I think the nosedive has already begun.
Are you kidding? That nose is broken and bleeding.
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### Author:  [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2004, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tolerance-gone-amok-again/278631/17 "2004-12-07T23:04:34Z")
It’s a conspiracty by Jello brand gelatin. See, if moms are allowed to make cheapie jello and just put it in any old container, Jello could go broke from the losses on their fancy schmancy cost four times as much, hermetically sealed “Jello Cups”.
Too bad they didn’t include a picture of the so called “look alike” drug. What? Did the mom pack it in a shot glass or something?
Good God, I hope she throws an unholy screaming fit and goes all postal on the school baord and all concerned, how ridiculous. Sounds like SOmeONe, has way too much time on their hands.
HUGE GIGANTO rollie eyes…
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### Author:  [@Standup\_Karmic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Standup_Karmic)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2004, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tolerance-gone-amok-again/278631/18 "2004-12-07T23:06:34Z")
[There’s more to the story…](http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20041207-1256-schooljell-oshots.html)
“The girl told the principal that her mother, who works in a bar, makes alcoholic shots at home and sells them at work. The fourth-grader said her mother had instructed her to take the shots to school and sell them, three for $1, to make some money for Christmas, Nowakowski said.”
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### Author:  [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2004, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tolerance-gone-amok-again/278631/19 "2004-12-07T23:18:58Z")
> [@Standup Karmic](#):
>
> [There’s more to the story…](http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20041207-1256-schooljell-oshots.html)
>
> “The girl told the principal that her mother, who works in a bar, makes alcoholic shots at home and sells them at work. The fourth-grader said her mother had instructed her to take the shots to school and sell them, three for $1, to make some money for Christmas, Nowakowski said.”
Well, in that case BOOOOO on the story in the OP for doing such a crappy reporting job. Still, suspended? An 8 year old?
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### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2004, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tolerance-gone-amok-again/278631/20 "2004-12-07T23:21:19Z")
Okay, see, that makes sense. That’s a wholly warranted suspension. I’m no longer depressed about the state of our schools.
Now I’m depressed by the state of our news media.
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