Entrapment: Autistic Child Tricked into Pot Deal in School Drug Bust

There is a disturbing new trend in the War on Drugs. Lately, news reports have begun to emerge in which undercover officers talk lonely or sympathetic people, who do not ordinarily use or sell drugs, into buying them on their behalf, only to bust them afterward. This meets the classic definition of entrapment, as it is unlikely that the individuals would have committed the “crime” in question had the officer not encouraged them to do so.

According to ABC News, two parents are suing the Temecula Valley Unified School District after their autistic child was entrapped as a part of an in-school drug sting operation. The Snodgrass family is alleging that their child’s special needs and difficulty connecting with friends were taken advantage of by an undercover officer, who begged the student to provide him with marijuana for over three weeks. The special needs child, whose identity remains anonymous for privacy reasons, eventually gave in, produced half of a used joint which he received from a local homeless person, and was promptly arrested.

The Public School System Abused a Special Needs Student with the Sting Operation

The Snodgrass family indicated that their child deals with a wide range of special needs including autism, Tourette’s syndrome, and bipolar disorder. In particular, he has a difficult time making friends and understanding social cues, so problems arose when an undercover officer pretended to be a student, befriended him, and began texting him around the clock. After earning the child’s trust, the officer began relentlessly begging him for drugs.

At first, the officer asked to buy the child’s own medication but was unable to convince him to sell the pills. After several weeks of coercive texting, the student eventually agreed to attempt to buy $20 worth of marijuana on behalf of the undercover officer. However, he was unable to find a contact to sell him the drugs, so he purchased half of a joint from a local homeless person.

Judge Rules Against Autistic Student’s Expulsion After Arrest

Judge Marian Tully ruled against the expulsion of the Snodgrass family’s son after he was arrested for providing the joint. Said Tully, “Within three days of the officer’s requests, (the) student burned himself due to his anxiety. Ultimately, (the) student was persuaded to buy marijuana for someone he thought was a friend who desperately needed this drug and brought it to school for him.”

Judge Tully also noted that the bust itself was specifically harmful to the student’s development given his special needs, “Finally, the fact that (the) student’s instructors and therapists were unaware that (the) district knowingly exposed (the) student to difficult social interactions with an adult undercover police officer intensified the critical need for them to have properly implemented his (individual education program) in the areas of counseling and speech and language.”

Essentially, an autistic, special needs child was taken advantage of to rack up bigger numbers in a drug bust, causing permanent psychological damage. As a result of this incident, he now has an even more difficult time connecting with and trusting friends.

Meanwhile, public opinion on the criminalization of marijuana has shifted, and states are beginning to legalize it. The War on Drugs is out of control, and cases of entrapment like these happen far too often.

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