What was he charged with sounds like distribution to me

>> After smoking with them, Donovan dropped the girls off at the high school <<

To me, that's the scary part - it's not just what they do to themselves, and to their own families. But then they get behind a wheel while stoned, and risk hurting or even killing someone else's child (e.g., some other highschool student who was unlucky enough to be in the path), or someone's parent.

I guess all that holier than thou stuff just went under the "privacy bus"!

He is no more of a criminal than your common drinker. The unjust persecution of Marijuana users in the county is foolish. An overwhelming majority of Americans feel it should be federally decriminalized, if not legalized and regulated. But at the very least, it shouldn't ruin kids futures and records, only because they smoked a joint once, like the rest of use.

Now the girls with Xanax.. Thats a different story. That is actually dangerous, and harmful.

We just need to throw a few more trillion dollars at this. Give the police total power and proper weapons - like Death-Rays that work on large crowds. Take away forever what's left of everybody's stupid rights and liberties. Indulge ourselves in even more wishful thinking or bizarre pseudo-science, then, before more hippies or the pathetically ill & dying get a chance to corrupt and endanger our truly pure and caring society with their evil plants, send all our children to Newt's Moon Colony of re-education to be taught about marital fidelity.

I'd like to kmnow the outcome of this arrest or is this going to be one of those cases, where the dirt gets swept under the carpet.

Two open homicides in my town alone and we're arresting a 20 year old for smoking a joint at his mom's house. Yup, priorities seem right in line!

How about an arrest for corrupting a minor, driving under the influence or any of the DANGEROUS things that seem to have gone on here? Nope - possession of weed is all he gets?

I am sorry Ms. Donovan on your thoughts of being a private matter. As soon as you decided to run for public office you placed your privacy on hold.

not only smoking pot but driving under the influence of it same as driving under the influence of alcohol, providing it to 2 minors seems like a distribution charge to me as well as contributing to the delinquincy of a minor. it wasn't his first time the girls new where to go.

from the article he only got a possesion charge seems like they went easy on him to me.

Another thing to look at how did the girls get off the school campus during the day? Article says the school only knew one of the two were missing.

Wow! A 20 year old kid gets caught smoking weed. No, wait, admits to smoking weed, in his house. Call out the National Guard!! Give me a break. This is only news because of who he is. Any other person, this doesn't even get a look.

What is the story about? Was it that 3 kids smoked pot? 3 kids are smoking pot right now in every town in America. I didnt read anywhere that Ms Donovan was smoking with them or that she supplied it....for heavens sake, is this the Patch or the Enquirer?

"Police went to the home to make sure he didn't need treatment" - It had nothing to do with the Sheriff's Dept connection to Rutherford.

Talk about Republicans and their family values.

He's really a good kid. How do you know that the pills were/ weren't prescribed to them? We have bigger problems in this world.

The bigger DONOVANGATE story is the cover up in the Bergen Record. Has anyone noticed that all the comments in the Bergen Record were taken down on orders of Alan Marcus who controls that newspaper ? Would any other family in Bergen County get such SPECIAL TREATMENT. The Arrogance and Power of the Democrats has been eclipsed by the bigger arrogance and hypocrisy of establishment Republicans. If Ms Donovan had spent more time at home rather than fighting and suing with every elected official from Saudino to Mike Dressler this may not have happened. I don't want to hear from this woman or her minions again about saving taxpayer dollars

I demand you step-down Donavan .

pl Agosta knows what he is talking about. He and others in Hackensack have seen a copy of last years Marcus lawsuit against the Bergen Record where in a sworn affidavit he stated that he was successful in getting all comments about him deleted from the Bergen Record while in the same sworn statement he claimed that he was not a public figure. So now who is the idiot ?

Are we reliving the McCarthy era, or what? Everywhere I turn, people want to hang somebody for some infraction or other, and in any case, know what the best punishment is to dole out. Is this what happens when the Internet allows Joe and Jane Anybody to give an opinion?--people go on judgment frenzies?? What ever happened to supporting one another as a community, to allowing one another mistakes, to forgiveness?

To all the people who seem to know this poor kid who got arrested and has not only a law rap to deal with but the problems he cost his mother--How do you know he wasn't driving the girls to school so they wouldn't drive themselves, in their condition? Further, how do you know he was high, and not just motivated by a series of insecurities to smoke a little pot....From the days that I remember, you have to smoke a lot of weed to get high enough to be a hazard on the road....Please, lay off this kid and this family and Kathleen Donovan and stop with the playing God already...Let's hope the marijuana law passes soon. Some of you should try it. It might help you to chill!

To Ridgewood Mom 26 that doesn't believe in forgiveness (glad you're not my mom), you might want to wait to see if he's actually found guilty. You may say a car is a deadly weapon, but words and a computer are much worse (don't you think?).

To the brainiac who thinks bashing the kid is ok cause he's a "public figure", he's not, just because his mother is a public figure, doesn't mean he is.

Chris its more than obvious that you are a party to this action. If not I suggest that you go down to the courthouse and get a copy of the file and educate yourself and use your head on this Marcus individual who hosted Donovans swearing in ceremony at his home in 2010 . While doing that read all about the $ 300k contract he received a few months ago. If you want the truth follow the money

Joe L I'd like to see your reaction if a 20 year old was getting ur 16 year old daughter high while she was supposed to be in class...If it was my daughter the police would b the least of his worries...

Good points, all. Safety behind the wheel is uppermost, where lives are concerned, and this young man shouldn't have been driving, period. You're right, "poor" is an inappropriate choice of words. Finally, the main issue for me remains that it seems foolish to spend so much negative energy blaming others, when it really doesn't matter what we think, but what the authorities make of this, and other local matters, and, in the spirit of this, maybe Americans in general need to revisit their hearts and strike up a more positive attitude in general--about everything. Points made. Have a nice weekend everyone.

SO by your logic, if a person has ONE beer that's it, they are intoxicated and should not drive??

Do you know how many hits (puffs) they took?

If ANYTHING the Xanax is what might have caused the attention to be drawn to the girls.

I have NEVER heard of someone having to go to the hospital for "TREATMENT" for Marijuana.

The number one killer of kids today is illegal use of LEGAL drugs. They are POISON and have to be administered in non-lethal doses.

MARIJUANA HAS NO LETHAL DOSE!!!

What I am reading here is that the police entered a private residence and arrested someone who may have smoked pot hours before. This makes no sense to me.

Gang, not sure this is the right thread for a debate on legalization.

Wow. I guess Bergen County is a left-leaning, liberal region.
An adult smokes dope with underage girls and then drives while under the influence.
This is acceptable?

I still like Kathleen Donovan, and I am a Democrat. She was cleaning up many abuses in our system to help the taxpayer. I am sure that irritated the powers that want the system as it stands. Sounds like someone had it out for her ?
A 20yr old is an ADULT , no one , not even a mother , has control over the actions of another adult ( even if it's her son).

y'all are evidence of Reefer Madness...come on children.....at any given moment, someone within 500 feet of our vehicles, driving along with us, is intoxicated, stoned, enduring a medical emergency, gaseous, texting, applying makeup....pick your poison. Some commentary was spot on....."facts" people....facts. Considering the same ...who among us is so pure and innocent? For all the people who replied to the story, let me not catch you driving while picking your nose, that is a driving impairment, and if you're a notable community member....or relative....I will tar and feather you in the town square....oh yes, count me in as righteous.

Echelon
You must understand that politics is all about perception. Period.

To Andy, yes, I gave my comments thought, unfortunately I can't say the same for you. So here's the response, do you honestly think that three kids with Xanax and smoking pot would have made the front page for 2 days if the kid's mother wasn't the County Executive? Let me give you a clue to the answer. No!!

As far as your crazy conclusion that smoking pot and driving made the auto a "deadly weapon", are you serious? So all the people who smoke pot for medicinal purposes are putting the rest of us in jeopardy? Talk about crying wolf . . . get real. A person who drinks too much coffee or red bull is more likely to be a bigger danger on the road.

The "majorative rule" here is that I love and enjoy reading gossip or "dirt" about others. It defines my life and makes me rather smug knowing people are stupid, greedy, and not so decent as I am. I love blowing out the candle of others because it makes my candle shine brighter.

There are several legal, moral, and human issues in the article; however, not to many commentators have contributed anything worthwhile reading or worthy of further discussion or comment. Sometimes life is very, very shallow; and this is a prime example of that observation.

Ummm. There may be a decent story here.

Taking the emotion and politics out of this story, based on NJ State Criminal Law (2C:24-4, Endangering the welfare of children), a "Child" or minor means any person under 16 years of age. That’s right folks, if your teenager is 16 or 17; they are not considered a child under the endangerment statute. The same holds true for dating relationships! Imagine when your kid brings home Mr. or Mrs. “Right” and that person is 35 or 40 years old??? Holy Cow!!! The “under the age of 18” stuff that we always hear about only applies to the teen if THEY break the law. Then the court handles their case in juvenile court and they are treated as minors...

Based on NJ State Criminal Law (2C:35-5; Manufacturing, distributing or dispensing a Controlled Dangerous Substance-CDS). Marijuana in a quantity of less than one ounce all the way up to 25 pounds is considered a felony. On the smaller amounts I believe it depends on how the marijuana was packaged and if it was offered for sale. I think that simple possession/use is a misdemeanor as listed under 2C:35-10a(4) where possession is allowed up to 50 grams (about 1.75 ounces). Over that amount it’s a felony. Yes, 2C:35-5 contradicts 2C:35-10a(4) when it applies to the quantity of marijuana if it’s an ounce. Leave it to lawyers to confuse basic math?

Based on the NJSP UCR (Crime Report) 2010 there were 13,833 drug related arrests for the age group of 18 to 21 year olds in the entire state of NJ. Bergen County had 3,687 drug related arrests encompassing ALL age groups. (I couldn’t find it broken down by both county and age). I wonder how many articles were written about those people??? All of this information was gathered using NJ.GOV websites. Folks, what really happened here is that 3 teens decided to get high…nothing more, nothing less.

Perhaps you should take some your own advise.

I'm reading some of these comments and some of them disturb me. Have we all forgotten what it was like to be a kid, teenager, young adult. Remember when all of you were 16? or have you forgotten? Remember when you were 20 or have you forgetten? We were all angels and never did a thing wrong, Right???.........