WCPS TO BEGIN USE OF DRUG-DETECTING KITS

COUNTY -- Striving to decrease drug use in local schools, Walton
County Public Schools has added a new weapon to its arsenal in
fighting back against drug use.

Thanks to a federal grant, the school system has acquired new
drug-testing kits that allow school officials to determine not only
whether a student has used or handled drugs, but the particular drug
in question in each case.

"The kit has two aerosol sprays," said Capt. Darren Vinson of the
Walton County Sheriff's Office. "One detects marijuana and the other
detects cocaine, crack and meth and that sort of thing."

Using the kits, a school employee can rub a small pad on a book bag,
locker handle or another possession of a student suspected of drug
use and then spray the pad with the aerosol, school officials said.

If the student has been using any sort of drug, the pad will change
color to detect the presence of illicit chemicals. Various colors
betray the use of corresponding drugs.

"This gives the principal more control of the situation," Vinson said.

"Before, if the principal or staff suspected a kid had drugs, they
had to search the student and figure out what drug was involved,"
Vinson said. "Now, the spray will detect which type of drug was used
based on the chemicals in the spray."

School officials, including Principal Sean Callahan of Carver Middle
School, and Sheriff's Office officials presented the kits to the
Walton County Board of Education earlier this month to demonstrate
the kits' effectiveness. Applying certain drugs, including
marijuana, methamphetamines and "ice," to pieces of paper, the board
members were allowed to test the paper themselves, using the spray
to reveal various color-coded drug warnings.

"A lot of schools have started using this, and with the board's
approval, we'll be using it starting next month," Vinson said.

For the school system, the kits are a better way of preventing drug
abuse among students.

"We know that it is a high priority for parents and our community to
keep our schools drug free," said Dr. Tim Lull, superintendent of
WCPS. "We participate in a federal program called Drug Free Schools
which gives us the funding to participate in programs that will
support that effort. We have joined in a new federal grant that
provides us access to highly effective drug testing technology. We
want students and parents to know that the technology is available
and will be used."

Vinson said that the kits will help schools partner with law
enforcement in removing drugs from local schools.

"If the schools think drugs are being used in the bathroom, they can
test it and find out where drugs are being used and where," Vinson
said. "It gives them first-hand knowledge before they get us
involved. We can take it from there."

Even more important than catching drug users, to Vinson and the
schools, is preventing drugs from reaching campus in the future.

"This effort is designed to be a deterrent," Lull said. "We want to
provide students with a very good reason to keep the drugs away from
our schools."