urg.
I think what went really wrong here was Cassie was given to much freedom by her parents. Like, I don't really think her mom or dad had any clue what was going on, but teachers and almost every student at Jon.D.Bracco, Eastglen and M.E.Lazerte high school knew she did Ecstasy and other types of drugs often.
Cassie was a 'scene' girl. She had bleached blonde hair that she back-combed, piercings, and she worked to impress all the wrong sorts of people. Every so often, she would sit at clariview bus station and start fights with friends there, and one time the school was buzzing with news that Cassie went with her friend Kayla after school and followed a girl home, trying to beat her up in an alley. Anyway, the point is, Cassie wasn't exactly everyone's favorite person.
Cassie went to drinking parties to do drugs with her friends often and Rock 'n' ride was one of the hangouts where young girls went to party it up with older men who were almost in their twenties. It was the perfect social scene for teenagers- advertised as a family friendly dance party in the west edmonton mall indoor amusement park. Officers would walk around the area and search drunk/high teenagers for coke and weed, but this didn't stop dealers from handing ecstasy out to little kids like pieces of candy.
Mrs. Morin, the teacher that was quoted in many of the news articles, was the mother of Ashley (Cassie's best friend who did the drugs at the same time). The reporters had only interviewed about three people for the story, and the two adults were clueless as to what was really going on in her life. In Edmonton public schools, every student is given lectures about drugs and the effects they have on their body. Cassie was fully aware of what she was doing when she bought the drugs from the sixteen year old. Who knows, it could have really been suicide or something, but everyone that really knew what this girl was all about will also know this wasn't her snapping under pressure.
I have had four best friends perish because of drugs. Two died at fourteen, two at fifteen. Cassie's death only got media attention because one of the world's largest malls happens to be a heavy drug traffic area. Unfortunately, I was the only one of her friends that got out of the drug thing, and my friends refuse to believe that they are in danger too, so I've had to distance myself from them. Parents, get to know your children and who their friends are, or your child could be next.
Blessed be.