You have an obligation to your young participants (and their
parents) to provide a safe and lawful environment. To do that,
you may ban illegal drugs and alcohol at your events and expel
those who flout your rules. But to best protect -- and assist --
those participants, you would do well to distinguish among the
various transgressions you might encounter.
A 19-year-old drinking a beer or two at a party is unlikely to
have a health problem. In many countries, he or she would not
have even a legal problem. (Buy that beer in Detroit, you flirt
with crime; cross the Ambassador Bridge and buy it in Windsor,
Ontario, you're in the clear.) But a drug-addled 10-year-old very
likely does have a health problem, one that requires not
punishment but help, something best overseen by parents and not
assistant principals (and certainly not the police).
UPDATE: The board voted not to report violations to a
transgressor's school except as required by law.
(Readers can direct their questions and comments by e-mail to
ethicist@nytimes.com. This column originates in
The New York Times Magazine.)
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