Buddah Smoking Babies

My girl posed this question after seeing the wonderful human interest story on CNN about some teens who gave two toddlers weed while the mother slept in another room with a toothache. She posed the following:

The kids, were smoking like it wasn't their first time... what is the impact and/or indication of this? Is it indicative of a greater societal problem that persist in communities of color? Or do you think this is just an isolated (semi-isolated) incident?

Personally, I see it this way. I don't know if its necessarily indicative of a problem that persists chiefily amongst people of colour. I would say however, that it is indicative of greater societal problems as the distance between those with access to education and upward mobility move farther away from those who
don't. The American public education system is failing young people
period...particularly poor young people. Poor young folks tend to make
bad decisions--just like young folks from more upwardly mobile
backgrounds. The difference is there is no safety net.And in some instances less positive influences from the people they are surrounded by.

Suffice to say, as more of the young people with less upward mobility have children at young ages combined with a lack of hope and a safety net and lack of fear of the
consequences, this kind of behavior, shit like babies smoking weed could continue to surface. Add to this, the fact that many men are absent in the home and there you are. And that absence is not just present in poor coloured folks homes. Poor white women have the same issue.

In the end, it seems like its really a poor, uneduacted, lack of access to upward-mobility thing. While others appear to get the head cold version, folks of the coloured persuasion get pneumonia--and about 30 minutes of fame on the national news.