SCHOOLS TOLD TO BE TOUGH ON DRUG DEALERS

HEADTEACHERS are being asked to expel any pupil caught dealing drugs on
school premises, even if it is their first offence.

Education ministers unveiled their "shock tactics" to crackdown on juvenile
drug taking at a time when Britain has the highest rates of consumption by
under-18s in Europe.

The plans include jail sentences for up to five years longer than the
current maximum for dealers who hang around school gates and target children.

They have been backed by the parents of Rachel Whitear, the heroin addict
whose death shocked the nation after pictures of her bloated and blackened
body were released as an anti-drugs warning.

Measures announced by Education Secretary Estelle Morris and young people's
minister Ivan Lewis yesterdayinclude better training in drugs education for
new teachers while watchdog Ofsted will be required to say whether schools
it inspects teach drugs education effectively.

But the guidance on excluding pupils met a mixed response from headteachers
and drugs counsellors in East Anglia. Ministers have also warned local
authority independent appeals panels not to over-rule headteachers'
decisions when they expel pupils on such grounds.

Chris Harrison, regional president of the National Association of
Headteachers (NAHT) for the eastern region, said the guidance supplied by
the Government was "ambiguous".

"The attempt to limit permanent exclusions to those supplying drugs is too
narrow. There are a number of headteachers who feel strongly that the use
of drugs ought to trigger exclusion permanently, if the school believes
this to be justified," he said.

"If the message is that we have to be tough on crime and the causes of
crime, then headteachers need unequivocal support when faced with
unacceptable breaches of school behaviour policies."

Chip Somers, of Focus Counselling Services in Bury St Edmunds, said: "I
think any initiative that brings the drugs problem into the public eye is
worthwhile. However, I think there is a real danger of demonising the
dealer as being the person who is the most evil.

"That short changes the drug problem and implies that if you get rid of the
dealer, the problem will go away a " and I don't believe that for a moment."

Mr Somers said the problem of drug abuse in the county was a growing one
and added: "I think it really is time Suffolk woke up to the fact it is no
different to other parts of the country a " the days of a rural idyll are
long gone. There are no 'nice' areas that are free of drugs. But I don't
think a hysterical response is productive."

Mr Lewis disclosed the plan to create a new criminal offence covering
dealing near school premises at a meeting with Rachel Whitear's mother
Pauline and stepfather Michael Holcroft at the Department for Education and
Skills in London.

"I hope it will be a deterrent and make it absolutely clear that if you go
down that line of targeting children, targeting schools, you will pay a
very heavy price indeed," he said.

Schoolchildren across England will soon be viewing a 22-minute documentary
about Rachel's life that has been made available by the Government for all
schools wishing to use it. She died of an overdose on May 10, 2000 at her
flat in Exmouth, Devon.

Department of Education officials believe Just Say No-style campaign had
proved ineffective, but it is also wrong to give children information
without encouraging them to see drug taking was wrong.

Earlier in the day, Miss Morris talked "shock tactics" from the director's
box at Portman Road as she visited Ipswich Town's Playing for Success
educational centre.

"Youngsters taking drugs are ruining their lives, destroying their
families' lives and are more likely to go into crime," she said. "Incidents
of drug taking in schools are far greater than when I was a teacher and far
greater than when I was a child.

"A lot of people have tried hard to tackle the problem but it has not
worked a " young people are still taking drugs and you have to say we could
do better. So that is why we are talking to the best practitioners and
using these 'shock' tactics."