SOME SCHOOL DRUG RAID

10 Cops, 6 Dogs Find Quarter-Ounce of Pot

The other day at Granite Bay High School, the Placer County Sheriff's
Department descended en masse to sniff out drugs on campus. The
deputies arrived with their specially trained dogs. The digs sniffed
around all the students' cars in the parking lot. Every student's car
came up clean, save one. That student was pulled from class. The car
was opened. A quarter-ounce of marijuana, maybe enough for 10 joints,
was discovered. The student, a 17-year-old boy, was suspended for
five days. He faces a potential misdemeanor charge for the marijuana
possession.

Ten deputies. Six dogs. A quarter-ounce of pot.

The drug raid is a reminder that law enforcement has the legal right
to sniff students' cars and probe students' lockers. The students
don't have the same legal rights as adults, particularly on school
property. Other high schools may be next on the raid list. The
department, understandably, isn't tipping its hand.

The raid does suggest some other questions worth pondering. Maybe the
pittance of pot discovered is proof that law enforcement is a
powerful deterrent. Or maybe it means that student drug use is alive,
well and off-campus. For the students and their teachers, this whole
episode provides the fodder for a healthy discussion in a civics
class. A variety of public values - from privacy rights, to the need
for probable cause of a crime, to the appropriate reach of law
enforcement - all came into play in the Granite Bay High School
parking lot. That 17-year-old boy with the quarter-ounce of marijuana
is surely thinking about these issues. All students, regardless of
their drug habits, should be thinking about them as well. And so
should a lot of adults, including those who make decisions on the
best uses for the county's law enforcement resources.