What age is a good age to start smoking crack?

A few days ago, I found a note next to the printer in our Teacher’s Lounge. An exchange between two students, scrawled in almost illegible handwriting, this it what it said:


How do you know that? My brother sometimes hang out with him and that’s how I now he had a gun. he is not going to shot me or my brother or my b-friend. he pointed at my cousin. What the gun? I would had took the gun and point the gun at him. NO. I wasn’t about to go to Jail. Who did it to you? MY COUSIN!!! Ohh. But why is he on crack? He NOT he too young to be smoking. How old is he? 14 and he is not in school.


Too young to be smoking crack?


Of course this exchange is disturbing on a number of levels. I could tell that it had been written by an older student, so I went to the 4th and 5th grade teachers to ask if they had already seen the note. None of the teachers had ever seen it before, so I made a copy and gave the original to the principal. Next, I went to each of the 4th and 5th grade classes and asked them all the same question:


“Take this seriously,” I pleaded, “Think about my question and take a moment before you answer.” Pausing for dramatic effect, I finally asked, “At what age is a good age to start smoking crack?”


With the 5th graders, my question only lingered for a few seconds before kids began to call out “Never! No age is a good age to smoke crack!” None of them were fooled by my rhetorical question.


“Great!” I congratulated them, but still felt skeptical. Among the sea of faces, I knew that the statistical odds were against them. At least one of those cute little boogers would fall victim to deadly drug use. “Please remember- nothing is safe for you to smoke, no matter how old or mature you are.”


The 4th graders had a different answer to my question.


“At what age is a good age to start smoking crack?” I repeated.


After a longer and more thoughtful pause, a few students raised their hands into the air. Hoping to get straight to my point, I called on one of the more advanced kids to clear things up. “Tevin, what’s a good age?”


Tevin very matter-of-factly answered, “Eighteen.”


I was stunned. I honestly expected the kid to say, “Never.” They had a substitute that day and she shot me a rather confused and startled glance. The rest of the class innocently waited with blank expressions upon their faces, wondering if Tevin was correct.


“No,” I replied. “It’s not okay to smoke crack when you’re eighteen.” I called on another reliable student to help clear things up, “Monica?”


“Twenty-three?” She guessed hopefully.


“Twenty-three?” I repeated. “Do you guys think that it would be okay to smoke crack when you turn twenty-three?”


“No!” Hollered a boy from the back of the room, “You better wait until you’re forty!”
“Yeah, forty!” Another kid agreed.


“No! No! Definitely thirteen!”


After a round of random number calling, I quieted the class down. “Guys, the correct answer is never. You should never, ever smoke crack or any other substance. Smoking is bad for your mind and body, no matter what it is that you’re smoking or how old you are.”


The kids looked uncomfortably at one another. They were quiet.
I knew what they were thinking, so I continued my lecture, “It does not matter if your cousin, or your older sister, or your uncle smokes crack. That is a bad choice, and it is a choice that you do not have to make. You should never smoke crack or any other substance. Do you understand?”

Many students nodded and muttered, “Yes, ma’am.”

Antonio, who sat at the front of the room, piped up, “Teacher! Teacher! My momma don’t smoke crack, but she sure do like to smoke a little dope.”


I shook my head. “Kids,” I reiterated, hoping my message would sink in with at least a few of them, “Your parents will sometimes make choices that are not the best. You do not have to do what they do. Make choices that are good for you. Don’t smoke anything