FIGHT DRUGS WITH EDUCATION

It's easy for newspaper editorial writers to find fault with public
institutions.

After all, such decision-making bodies as school boards and law courts
address so many varied issues that they are bound to get something
wrong from time to time.

Today, however, it's appropriate to salute both Red Deer Public School
District board and the Supreme Court of Canada for acting with
intelligence and restraint.

The subject in question is the use of drug-sniffing dogs in
schools.

The country's top court ruled Friday that police cannot show up with
their pooches, at such public institutions as schools, and conduct
random searches for drugs unless they have concrete reasons to suggest
narcotics are present.

The decision is sure to be welcomed by anyone concerned about the
growing threat of the state to individuals' privacy.

It's also a reasonable compromise since it still allows dog searches
when they are truly warranted.

Of course, it goes without saying that drugs and children are a bad
mix that ought to be discouraged.

However, sending police into schools to find narcotics has never been
the best way to fight the problem.

Education is the answer, and that's why it's appropriate to have the
police-supported DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program reach
out to children when they are about 10 years old, before they are
likely to pick up bad habits.

The Red Deer Public School District does not allow random searches by
drug-sniffing dogs because it doesn't want to invade its students'
privacy.

That's a wise stance, both for ethical and legal reasons.

The position of the Red Deer Catholic Regional Division appears to be
more troubled, with superintendent Paulette Hanna telling the
Advocate, "We'll obviously be getting legal advice to see how this
ruling affects our policies," after Friday's court decision was announced.

The Catholic division has allowed its principals to call in privately
trained drug-sniffing dogs to spontaneously search middle schools and
high schools for drugs, but hopefully that will now change.

While the drug-sniffing dog issue was before the Supreme Court, the
Catholic board decided to hold off on plans to use an RCMP-trained dog
to sniff around schools.

One can only hope those plans are abandoned.

Sending drug-sniffing dogs into schools or around them only encourages
young people to fear police and view authority figures, such as
principals and teachers, with suspicion.

Just for emphasis, and because we're talking about schools, it's
appropriate to repeat this: education is the answer.

We must remember that schools are not prisons.

Finding contraband is not the name of the game: teaching children to
read, write and generally succeed at life is.

If drug-sniffing dogs are the answer, what's next, bomb-sniffing dogs?
Metal detectors at every entrance?

Central Alberta schools are not perfect, but surely they are not as
crime-ridden as their counterparts in big American cities. Let's keep
things in perspective.

Drugs are a problem in schools, just as they are in society. And
society will have to become more creative in addressing such challenges.

But the United States has completely lost the War on Drugs by cracking
down with a heavy hand and throwing countless people in prison.

A more measured approach, employed in some European countries, has
found more success.

Red Deer Public School District board and Canada's Supreme Court have
identified a reasonable middle ground.

It's time to applaud that sort of stance and realize the problem of
drugs in schools must be addressed with common sense, and respect for
the guilty and the innocent.