[p-e-w]

I’ve always wondered how much of the second part is truth and how much is fiction. That a teenage girl from Iran, living by herself in Central Europe with essentially no local connections, would become a drug dealer to her classmates, and on top of that somehow be let off the hook for it by the headmaster, stretches credibility a little bit.

[conductr]

Idk, I didn’t read this book. But I lived a similar version of that reality in a conservative southern US town. My home life was challenging. I sold drugs and generally was a rebellious troublesome teenager. All the officials in my school and local law enforcement gave me kind slaps on the wrist compared to what they could/should have. I had to assume they were trying to get me to a point of adulthood without having life ruining consequences weighing me down. I straightened up by around 17-18 but there were certainly a few times between 14-17 I could have been charged for adult felony crimes and was let off the hook, never even spent a night in a juvenile detention facility but I was made to flush a lot of drugs down some toilets a time or two. I think it used to be more common to let kids figure things out for themselves. I don’t think the similar levels of leniency would occur, it’s all zero tolerance.

[watwut]

> gave me kind slaps on the wrist compared to what they could/should have

I think that slaps on the writs that lead to adjusted member of society are waaay better then felony crimes charges that lead to life of in-out of prison with much harder way to integrate.

People who are treated like you was have overall much better results then people who have book thrown on them as youg.

I genuinely dislike troublesome teenagers, but I also think that your story is a success story of the "dont destroy them" approach.

[shermantanktop]

The lenience you enjoyed presumably resulted in problems or harm for others.

I got a few breaks as well as a kid too. I think teenage boys end up being a community investment and people are cleaning up broken windows, stolen cars, graffiti, and worse as we hope the kids grow up.

[actionfromafar]

And it probably saved a lot of problems or harm for others, further down the line. OP might have become a career criminal without that lenience.

[conductr]

Very true. I’d just say, it’s the leniency that’s the investment more so than the cleaning up part. Because the damage being done is almost a given. How elders respond to it shapes whether it becomes an asset or a liability.

[dkarl]

A foreign student who is afraid of returning to her home country sounds like an ideal low-level drug dealer. They are legally vulnerable because they are afraid of being expelled from the country, and they have access to lots of potential buyers in their fellow students. And someone who is new and is looking for friends is more easily approached and recruited.

[chmod775]

I've personally encountered some stories that were pretty much exactly that.

Vulnerable young people becoming low level drug dealers (often for lack of other options) isn't exactly a rare story.

[ginko]

I'm from Vienna (admittedly younger) but it seems believable. The place she picks up the drugs in the comic is "Café Camera" which is clearly a reference to "Camera Club" which was well-known for this in the 80s and 90s.