STUDENTS HAVE NO RIGHT TO BRING DRUGS TO SCHOOL

To the Editor:

I wish to respond to the guest editorial reprinted from the Goderich
Signal-Star entitled "High School students still have right to
privacy" published Wednesday May 7, 2008.

This editorial defended the recent Supreme Court of Canada decision
rejecting the practice of sniffer dogs being brought to public schools
(because of suspicion of drugs in the school) in the name of the
rights of privacy.

We live in a day and age where the so called "Charter of Rights and
Freedoms" is being used as a wax nose. The charter is being used to
justify a variety of activities in the name of individual rights and
freedoms at the expense of the larger public good. People clamour for
rights but we hear so little of responsibilities. Regrettably our
culture has adopted a relativistic outlook in which there is seemingly
no longer any absolutes. (With the exception that there are no absolutes.)

Freedoms always exist within bounds. We are free to drive a vehicle
when it is properly registered and licensed and the licensed driver
sets out to obey the law of the road. If he decides to drive on the
wrong side of the road it is no longer a matter of freedom but of the
abuse of freedom.

And as such, the aforementioned editorial in my view is wrong-headed.
While we would not wish for the tyranny of the majority, we also are
opposed to the tyranny of the minority. It seems to me if drugs are a
problem (and they are) and, if we have certain standards with respect
to drug use (and we do) then, the rights of the "part" do not trump
the rights of the "whole." Those enslaved by the drug culture need to
be told loud and clear that such bondage is not only a pox on our
society but also upon the one who has been trapped by the vile message
that says "do as you wish and let no one ever tell you that you may or
may not." It seems to me that if reasonable suspicion exists, the
rights of those who wish to be protected from the evil influences of
the drug culture and its long term disastrous effects should be
upheld. Public schools are public property. The issue at hand is not
first of all privacy but one that acknowledges that students (or
anyone else for that matter) have no right to bring drugs into a
public place.

In many ways we live in a time where right is called wrong and wrong,
right.

Soon there will be a judgment on polygamy. One does not have to be a
eye specialist to see where that decision is headed.

In days past there have already been various judgments rendered as to
what constitutes marriage. We have had judgments that have spoken of
when is a life, a life. In this judgment a mother's right trumps that
of the rights of the little one she carries. A right in our society
that justifies murder.

But, these judgments are the judgments of men. There is a higher court
than the Supreme Court of Canada. That court exists in the heavens
above and the Judge convening that court is the one Who has given us
His Word, the Holy Bible. That Word speaks of the way of life. May God
raise up a generation of people who are not ashamed of calling wrong,
wrong and right, right.

Sincerely,

P.J. Vellenga

Clinton