Two schoolboys aged just ten and eleven have been suspended for bringing cannabis into their junior school.
The children took the class B drug to the school they attend in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, it has been revealed.
Police officers were called and the boys were given a warning but no further legal action was taken.
Shocked
Staff at the school were shocked to discover the substance and called the police to the school.
As a result, the boys, who are both in their final year at the school, were suspended for an undefined period according to Gloucestershire County Council.
The school itself declined to comment.
Statement
Education officials at the council issued a statement on behalf of the school.
The statement read: “Two pupils were found to have in their possession a small amount of a substance we believed to be illegal.
“The substance had been brought into school from home.”
It went on: “In line with school policy, the police were informed immediately and attended the school promptly”.
Serious
The statement said that investigations found it to have been a one-off incident.
But it added: “It is a very serious matter and is now being dealt with through the school’s disciplinary policy”.
The school has refused to disclose the amount of cannabis found in the boys’ possession, but police said it was a “small quantity”.
Warning
A spokesman for Gloucestershire Constabulary said officers were called to attend the school on Wednesday last week following the discovery.
“The matter was discussed with the school”, he said, “and the boys were given a warning by the officers because this was deemed the most appropriate action.
“The drugs were the seized by police and will now be destroyed”.
Presentation
The police have arranged for a presentation to be given at the school, warning of the dangers of drug abuse.
Parents of the school, which has 300 pupils aged seven to eleven, were left shocked by the incident.
One parent remarked: “If the two of them have got it, how many other children have got it?”
Figures
The news follows the announcement last month that one in eight cannabis dealers caught by the police are children.
Figures from the Ministry of Justice revealed that 268 under 18s received cautions or convictions for offences related to dealing cannabis in 2009, the equivalent of five a week.
And more than 13,000 youngsters needed hospital treatment after using the drug during the same year, the equivalent of 36 children a day.
Health
The figures alarmed critics concerned about the devastating effect which the drug could take on youngsters’ health.
Charles Walker, the Conservative MP who obtained the figures, said: “Cannabis is seen as a soft drug but the stuff being smoked now is three times more potent than the stuff that was around in the 60s and 70s.
“It can fry your brain, and double a young person’s chance of psychosis and schizophrenia. We are consigning thousands of young people to a lifetime of underachievement by making it so easy for them to get hold of this drug.
Compromising
“The laws surrounding cannabis were framed by people in their 40s, 50s and 60s whose own experience was of a much weaker form.”
His concerns were echoed by Marolin Watson, from the drugs charity Hope UK, who said: “It is likely that for every young person in treatment, there are many more whose cannabis use is compromising their future prospects.”
She added: “Using it is like playing Russian roulette with their mental health.’