Young children bring pot to school. (Update: education news from schools, business, research and professional organizations).

As usual, there's good news and bad news about drug use and children. Two third-graders in Port St. Lucie, Fla., were caught in December with 12 bags of marijuana. The same week, a four-year-old in Massachusetts presented her Head Start teacher with a small bag of pot as a gift. But days later, results from a National Institutes of Health study reported that teen drug use is decreasing.

"Clearly these latest two stories should be sounding alarm bells that now we need to not only be educating junior high and high school students, but also much younger students about the dangers of drug use," says Jennifer de Vallance, spokeswoman for the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Administrators in Port St. Lucie won't revamp their substance abuse education following the drug incident. "We have a very formal program for fifth and sixth graders," says Michelle Sjogren, spokeswoman for the district. "And through our school resource officer, we have educational opportunities in this area even for pre-schoolers."

The district expelled the students pending a formal disciplinary hearing.

The Office of National Drug Control isn't leaning toward formal programs for younger students either. The prevailing theory is that kids hear some form of "Just Say No" at school, but their baby-boomer parents see marijuana as a harmless drug, or feel hypocritical warning against it. "Studies consistently show that parents are the single most important influence in their kids decision not to use drugs," de Vallance says.