READING, WRITING AND MARIJUANA IN SMITHERS SCHOOLS

Drugs are being sold in Smithers schools. And the buyers are getting
younger.

After a drug bust at Smithers Secondary School earlier this month,
principal James Cameron is calling on parents to "wake up" and realize
there is a very real drug problem in Smithers.

"There is a serious issue around drugs in our community -- period...
And the schools would be a reflection of the community," he said.

"Drug dealers are always in the schools. They're often, remarkably,
people we don't know, so it's not the typical people you'd think. And
for some reason you just never ever catch drug dealers. This case was
a fluke."

Cameron was responding to an incident earlier this month when a
teenager, described as an upstanding Grade 10 student, was singled out
for selling pot to four eighth graders.

The middle school students were caught smoking marijuana on Hudson Bay
Mountain during school hours, and volunteered the name of the boy who
sold it to them.

The 10th grader was expelled, a rare punishment in today's public
school system. But due to the young age of the users, the school chose
a more drastic punishment to send a clear message that drug sales will
not be tolerated, said Cameron. The boy's reason for dealing the pot
was also a major concern.

"He's not a big-time dealer, and he doesn't even need to deal. He has
money and a job," Cameron said. "This was about status."

The usual policy for in-school suspensions had been highly effective
in at least keeping young offenders enrolled in school and current
with their studies. But this year, the rise in repeat offenders has
left the school reaching out to other community organizations for help.

"We're suspending kids while they're [already] suspended," said
Cameron. "They're smoking pot early in the morning before they serve
their in-school suspension for smoking pot."

Pervasive drug use, particularly marijuana, has been a regular topic
at the committee meetings of Crime Prevention Through Social
Development (CPSD). Matt Davey, the Smithers' community safety
officer, said the issue has been "bubbling to the surface" since
Christmas, but in the last six weeks has boiled over as an issue of
major concern with the CPSD.

"It's happening with a younger crowd than usual," said
Davey.

"It's usually the norm that the Grades 10, 11 and 12s would be
responsible for that behaviour, but we have a particular group in
Grade 8 and 9 that [we're] struggling with."

The CPSD is working with the high school to develop a youth mentoring
program this April for a preselected group of six at-risk youth.

"There's been a breakdown in communication between the business
community, the RCMP and the general public with youth," said Davey.
"We're just looking for ways to reestablish that connection," said
Davey.

According to Cameron drug abuse is not at the forefront of daily high
school life, but the growing acceptance of drug use should be
triggering alarms with parents.

He said there's an 85 per cent chance children over the age of 16 who
experiment with drugs will not develop addictions or dependencies, but
with children under the age of 16 there is an 85 per cent chance they
will.

"There's a dark alley in our town, and people don't pay attention to
it. Just talk to the people at Emergency or the staff at the needle
exchange program."

In 2007 a needle exchange program handed out 60,000 needles, with more
than double that number returned, indicating a much higher, but
incalculable rate of intravenous drug use in the Bulkley Valley. At
the time staff had warned the public users were getting younger each
year.

Cameron said the high school drug problem is almost exclusively
limited to pot, but a perceived rise with the heavy intravenous drugs
warrants a note of concern.

"People don't realize how prevalent drugs are. When their kids go to a
party, there will likely be drugs there. Most of it's pot, but there's
a lot of E [ecstasy]. Parents need to pay attention to what their kids
are doing."

Smithers Secondary principal calls drug problem serious, users getting
younger