Police: North Carolina Fifth-Grader Takes Pot to School, Turns in Parents

(Oct. 18) -- An elementary school student in North Carolina took lessons he learned from a drug awareness program to heart last week by turning in his own parents for breaking the law, police say.

The fifth-grader, who attends an elementary school in Matthews, N.C., recently took part in a DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program at his school. The program, which was started in California in 1983, is intended to give children valuable skills for resisting the allure of drugs, gangs and violence.

The Matthews community has its own DARE officer who spreads the organization's message to three of the area's elementary schools, WBTV reported.

Upon attending the DARE presentation, the 11-year-old student, who is not being identified, brought an undisclosed amount of marijuana cigarettes to school. The boy allegedly told a school safety officer that the drugs belonged to his parents.

On Thursday, officers with the Matthews Police Department arrested the child's 40-year-old father and 38-year-old mother and charged them both with misdemeanor counts of marijuana possession and possession of drug paraphernalia.

The child's parents were cited but not jailed, pending their next court appearance. Social services, however, has removed the 11-year-old and a sibling from the family home and placed them with relatives, police say.

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The Matthews Police Department did not return calls for comment from AOL News today. On Sunday, Matthews police Officer Stason Tyrrell spoke briefly with WBTV.

"Even if it's happening in their own home with their own parents, they understand that's a dangerous situation because of what we're teaching them," Tyrrell said.

WBTV also spoke with the child's father, who told them he does not give drugs to his children. When asked how his child got the drugs, the father reportedly said it was "no one's business."

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Police: 5th-Grader Takes Pot to School, Turns in Parents

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