CIVIL LIBERTIES GROUP TRIES TO STOP SCHOOL'S SNIFFER-DOGS PLAN

VANCOUVER - The B.C. Civil Liberties Association is urging the Abbotsford
school board to drop a plan to allow drug-sniffing dogs in schools, saying
it would lead to false accusations and wrongly stigmatize students as drug
users, and could lead to litigation against the school.

"We have tried to open their eyes, but they have ignored our warnings and
seem more interested to impress the message that they are getting 'tough on
drugs'," the association said in a weekend news release. "Moreover, we do
not believe this policy will eliminate drugs in the schools."

The board will decide tonight whether dogs should be brought into middle
and secondary schools for random searches as early as January. The plan was
approved in principle in May.

The civil liberties association says it believes the board intends to
proceed with the plan, even though it says research indicates drug dogs on
random searches will correctly identify drugs only 20 per cent of the time.