LOCKER SNIFFING IDEA SOUNDS FASCIST TO ME

Dear editor,

The initiation of the presence of sniffer dogs in our schools is a rash and
unsupportable attack on the rights of everyone in these buildings. I can't
imagine what would possess right-thinking people - presumably with our
children's well-being in mind - to even dream up such a scheme.

This will provide the final nail in the coffin for any trust between the
students and those who care for them in the school system. I do not believe
that this approach will in any way dissuade young people from experimenting
with drugs, though it will certainly bring the police and other authorities
into disrepute and lessen their ability to provide guidance of any kind.
Since the dogs will be in place largely to seek out marijuana, the more
benign participants in drug use will be ferreted out and the real health
issues of tobacco and alcohol addiction will remain unattended

This is a move to unnecessarily increase the powers of the police, which -
particularly in the case of drug enforcement - is already great enough. I
would like to also state that it is the mandate of the police in a
democratic society to enforce the law as provided by elected
representatives. What they are trying to do here is to initiate policy
outside the legislative process. All sound medical stats suggest that most
of the serious and long term harm coming to our kids from substance abuse is
from tobacco and alcohol, so now we must ask the police and school board
"why this escalation of hysteria over drug use?"

This is a fascist proposal with a questionable motivation at its heart. To
the school board members: please think carefully before making your
decision. The message this activity will send to the kids is that the
authorities are impotent, oppressive and without a human face.

- -Eden Haythornthwaite, Duncan