MISSION SCHOOLS ADOPT 'DRUG-FREE' ZONES

Today, it seems, a student is just as likely to be asked for a joint as
they are a pencil.

Just ask Kristina Mitchell.

The Grade 8 Mission secondary student looks as innocent as they come, but
she has been approached - asked if she has any to sell, or if she wants to
buy.

But Mitchell, a member of her school's drug and alcohol prevention
committee, is one of a growing number of students looking to reverse this
trend with the launch of drug-free zones around their schools.

As of this week, Mission, Hatzic and Heritage Park secondary schools have
adopted a drug-free zone policy. The policy is meant to prevent drug users
and drug dealers from entering within the designated drug-free zone - a
two-block radius around each of the participating schools.

Mission RCMP initially went to school staff and then student
representatives with the idea. The students in turn took it to their
classmates via a secret ballot, and RCMP school liaison officer Const.
Laurel Klassen said all three schools were strongly in favour of the program.

The program will take a three-pronged approach.

Students in Grades 5 and 6 will receive training to learn about the harmful
effects of drugs and how to find positive alternatives and resist violence
when dealing with their peers.

At the same time, teachers will be trained in what to look for in students
who use or are under the influence of drugs. Police will also increase
enforcement and target drug dealers working in these zones.

Anyone now caught within these zones with drugs, for their own use or for
sale, will be charged and a stiffer than usual penalty will be sought from
the courts, said Klassen.

Levi Ferris, a Grade 12 student at Hatzic secondary who is on his school's
drug and alcohol prevention committee, is the first to admit he has used
drugs.

"To tell you the truth I used to be into all that stuff - pot, mushrooms,
acid," he blurted out.

But, he also gave it up, he pointed out.

"I got bored with it and noticed I was losing my memory."

As for why he backs the drug-free zone initiative: "School's a place for
learning," he answered flatly.

Students at all three schools recognize that the new policy won't eliminate
drugs in and around schools, but believe it will curb it.

"There are laws and people still break them," pointed out Amy Goulding, a
Grade 12 Hatzic student.

But by making it harder to get drugs and harshening the consequences, it
could help. In the coming weeks, students will be delivering flyers
explaining the program to homes and businesses located within the
drug-free zones. Students at the three schools are also footing the $750
bill to have Drug Free Zone signs made while the school district is paying
to have them posted.