MOTHER'S POT LUCK RUNS OUT

Parent Of Student Is Among 10 Arrested After Undercover Operation At School

Police were startled to discover that the ringleader of a drug-dealing
operation at Macdonald High School was being supplied marijuana by his mother.

A month-long undercover police operation at the Ste. Anne de Bellevue
school resulted in the arrest of eight students and two adults yesterday
for drug possession and trafficking. About 50 officers participated in the
sting,

The 17-year-old ringleader's mother was caught when undercover officers
tried to buy about 14 grams of marijuana from the boy. He put in an anxious
call to his mother to say he needed more.

Calling the arrest of the mother "the icing on the cake," Commander Michel
Lecompte of the Montreal Urban Community police said a search of the
mother's home netted 14 grams of marijuana, 135 grams of hashish and 0.05
grams of heroin.

Police had been called by principal Richard Meades, who suspected drug use
among students and had had reports of students smoking marijuana in the
lobbies of nearby apartment building.

Lecompte said he finds it frustrating that children today seem to think it
is normal to use marijuana.

"It is not normal," he said at a press conference at the police force's
Station 1 yesterday, vowing to enforce zero tolerance of drugs in his
community even if it means arresting children.

Four of the students were arrested for possession and released in their
parents' custody. The other four were charged with trafficking and are to
be turned over to youth protection. They range in age from 14 to 17.

All were immediately suspended from the school. The four arrested for
trafficking will not return, while the return of the others will be worked
out on a case-by-case basis.

The second adult arrested, also for trafficking, was an older boy who hung
around the school.

In addition, there were about 15 other students who will be dealt with who
weren't arrested but were seen with drugs during police surveillance.

Police also brought in a drug-sniffing dog to check the entire school,
which has 590 students but nothing was found in any of the lockers or
bathrooms. About 145 elementary students who share the building with the
high school weren't exposed to the police operation yesterday afternoon.

Lecompte said there wasn't a huge quantity of marijuana seized but he,
along with Lester B. Pearson School Board officials, hopes it sends a
message to all students about the seriousness of drug use and possession.

"There isn't a high school where we'll tolerate it," said Pearson chairman
Marcus Tabachnick, adding that he believes parents and school communities
really support that stand when it comes to drugs. "We want to make our
buildings safe and provide an atmosphere for learning."

Meades said he is also disturbed by "an increasing level of acceptance" of
drug use and praised the community police for their work.

"Adolescents tend to feel impregnable," Meades said. "There will be a shock
effect in this and an element of prevention for kids on the edge of it."

He said teachers had complained that the kids smelled of marijuana and it
was important to act on his suspicions. Police began their surveillance on
March 19.

"Marijuana is a stronger drug than it used to be and its use is becoming
more widespread," Meades said. "The effect of it on youngsters' studying is
devastating."

The police now plan to have a squad car at the school every lunch hour.

And Lecompte said the operation is not over, that the police will continue
to work in the school. If nothing else, he wants to get across to kids just
how dangerous drugs can be.

"We're going to show kids that it is very damaging for their health and
learning capacity," Lecompte said.

"When you have a mother giving drugs to her kid, it's not just the fault of
the kid. We have to work with parents, too."