A Virginia couple has filed a lawsuit against their son’s school, the school resource officer, and the Bedford County Sheriff’s Office after their 11-year-old son was kicked out of school for bringing a plant — that wasn’t pot — to school, the Roanoke Times is reporting. 
 
 The troubles for the unnamed sixth-grader, identified only as RMB, began in September 2014. Melvin Williams, the lawyer for Bruce and Linda Bays, the boy’s parents, says that the boy was at school when word somehow got to school administrators that he had a bag of marijuana and a lighter in his backpack. 
 
 “We know they relied on ‘tips’ that after the fact turn out to be less than reliable.” 
 
 The boy was in gym class when he was summoned to the principal’s office. There, the principal, in the presence of the school resource officer, emptied the boy’s backpack and found a bag containing leaves and a lighter. He was immediately suspended for 10 days, pending an administrative hearing, then kicked out of school for a year. The school resource officer also filed marijuana possession charges against the youth in juvenile court. 
 
 There was only one problem: three tests on the plant that the boy brought to school determined that it wasn’t marijuana, according to Raw Story. 
 
 “The field test came back not inconclusive, but negative. Yet [Resource Officer Calohan] went to a magistrate and swore he possessed marijuana at school.” 
 
 RMB’s parents believe that he was likely the victim of a prank; RMB rides the same bus with high school students and his parents believe an older teen likely put the substance into his backpack without RMB knowing about it, a claim the school has rejected. 
 
 The school maintains that the fact that the substance the boy allegedly brought to school turned out not to be marijuana is irrelevant; under the school’s Zero Tolerance drug policy, “lookalike” drugs are also forbidden. 
 
 The case illustrates how schools’ so-called “Zero Tolerance” policies, while well-intentioned, can sometimes be taken to ridiculous lengths. Earlier this month, according to this Inquisitr report, a first-grader in Colorado was suspended, under his school’s zero-tolerance violence policy, for pointing his finger in the shape of a gun. 
 
 RMB will be allowed to resume attending school — at an alternative school and under strict probationary guidelines — on Monday, but his parents want him back in his old school, with his record expunged. 
 
 RMB’s parents claim that, since their son’s suspension for bringing not-marijuana to school, the gifted and talented student has been withdrawn, and is being treated by a child psychiatrist for depression and panic attacks. 
 
 [Image courtesy of: Set Apart People] ||||| Some parents in Dorchester County are furious after nine students at Eagles Nest Elementary School were suspended for violating a school drug policy. 
 
 The problem parents say is the children weren't caught with drugs. They were accused of having sugar mixed with Kool-Aid in their possession. 
 
 ABC News 4 spoke with one parent Tuesday who said her child's infraction was reduced during an expulsion hearing at the district office. The child is now on a probationary status with the district and will be able to return to school Thursday. 
 
 
 
 "We called the school board, and they expedited the hearing to Tuesday," said one woman whose son was suspended. "So, today was the expulsion hearing. All the students were put up for expulsion for having Kool-Aid and sugar which was called "happy crack". 
 
 The woman said she didn't even know what "happy crack" was when school officials called her last week to say her son was being suspended. 
 
 "The way she called me, I thought my son died," she said. "She said there's this epidemic going on at school with happy crack. I Googled it. I'm like Kool-Aid and sugar, are you serious? I was appalled. I was floored. I really didn't think it would go to this extreme." 
 
 Administrators at the district office say possession of any substance, whether illegal or not, that looks like an illegal substance is a violation of a school policy, stating the following: 
 
 "No student will market or distribute any substance which is represented to be or is substantial similar in color, shape, size or markings of a controlled substance in any of the circumstances listed above. Look-alike substance or substances that mimic the effect of drugs will be treated as illegal substances." 
 
 It is a level three offense and constitutes criminal conduct under the JICH, a South Carolina code of laws. 
 
 Parents told ABC News 4 they had no idea of the policy in the district's handbook and neither did their children. They say they children thought they were buying the equivalent of a pixie stick. 
 
 "His intent was not malicious," one woman told us. "The other children's intent was not malicious, but they were treated like criminals. They are ten years old. To go about it the way they did, ostracize the children, call the school board, when I know of other school districts who have had the same issue and those children weren't treated as harshly." 
 
 She said it is uncalled for, disappointing and disheartening. 
 
 As for the children's punishment, school officials said all disciplinary hearings for the students are finished. All of the students were facing expulsion, but the offenses have been reduced to level one infractions. 
 
 This isn't the first time "crack candy" has made headlines. Last year an 8th-grader in Cleveland was suspended for five days. 
 
 The story is generating some solid feedback on our Facebook page. Here's that discussion. ||||| April 23, 2014 11:47 PM 
 
 GREELEY, Colo. (CBS4) – A school in Greeley is asking parents to be more vigilant after a 10-year-old boy admitted to selling marijuana to other students on the playground and another student came to school with a marijuana edible candy bar. 
 
 Both incidents happened in one week. 
 
 School officials are now asking parents to pay attention to where they are keeping their recreational marijuana after the fourth graders brought the items to Monfort Elementary School in Greeley. 
 
 John Gates, director of safety for Weld County School District 6, said there were four students involved — three boys and a girl. The students were all 10. 
 
 Gates said the students faced tough discipline but not suspension or expulsion but would not provide specific details on their punishment. 
 
 One boy admitted to taking a small bite of the candy bar but he didn’t get sick, and a medical exam showed he didn’t suffer any harmful side effects. 
 
 Gates said the boys told them they got the pot from home. That marijuana appears to have been legally purchased by adults. The grandparents in two families apparently made the purchases. No charges are expected to be filed. 
 
 On Monday a student who was not involved told school officials about the pot selling on the playground and the next day a student tried to trade an edible for some of the student’s marijuana. 
 
 “It was the simple fact that we had adults that didn’t secure their marijuana,” Gates said of the grandparents, urging adults to take care with the drug. “That sure is concerning because this would have never happened had the marijuana not been so accessible to two 10-year-old boys.” 
 
 Monfort Elementary School principal Jennifer Sheldon sent home a letter to parents on Tuesday stating that even though it’s easier for adults to get marijuana, children potentially have greater access. 
 
 A portion of that letter reads: “We urge all parents, grandparents and anyone who cares for children to treat marijuana as you would prescription drugs, alcohol or even firearms. This drug is potentially lethal to children, and should always be kept under lock and key, away from young people.” 
 
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– The details of the story are hazy, but what's certain is this: An 11-year-old was suspended from school in Virginia after school officials in late September found what they believed was a marijuana leaf in his backpack, along with a lighter. (A suit filed in the case alleges the assistant principal found "crumpled leaves.") The boy, identified only as RMB, was suspended for 364 days for alleged "possession of marijuana," and he faced charges in juvenile court. Turns out, however, that three tests found the leaf wasn't pot at all, and the juvenile charges were dropped, the Roanoke Times reports. But things with the school weren't so simple: Only now, six months after the case began, has RMB been able to return to class at a different school, and he remains on probation. That time away has taken a toll. The son of Bruce and Linda Bays of Bedford County, both teachers, used to be an easygoing, upbeat child. Now he gets panic attacks, suffers from depression, and fears authority figures. After a disciplinary hearing, his mother tells the Times, "he just broke down and said his life was over. He would never be able to get into college; he would never be able to get a job." He's being treated by a psychiatrist, and his parents have launched a federal lawsuit against Bedford County Schools and the county sheriff's office. But the suit could face a hurdle when it comes to school drug policy: It also bans "imitation controlled substances," defined as a "pill, capsule, tablet, or other item which is not a controlled substance." In the meantime, it remains unclear how the leaf got in RMB's bag. The Inquisitr points to concerns about "zero tolerance" school policies, noting that this month, a 6-year-old was suspended for shaping his hand like a gun—and it wasn't the first such suspension.