DRUG TESTS 'ON CARDS'

A Northland high school is set to introduce random drug-testing of
its students after 90 percent of parents polled so far backed the move.

Though Otamatea High School is still waiting for the final results of
a parent survey, board of trustees chairman Murray Cullen said random
drug testing was now "99 percent" on the cards.

A meeting with parents next week, when principal Haydn Hutching
returns from holiday, would air concerns and iron out issues, Mr
Cullen said. "We need to make sure everybody understands what we are
doing. It's still subject to parents' approval."

Provisional survey results reveal 126 of the 140 parent respondents,
or 90 percent, support random drug testing.

The school wants 75 percent support before forging ahead and, with
tomorrow the closing date for survey forms, that target should be
comfortably met.

"To be honest the quicker we can get onto this the better, because
there will be less chance of the guilty kids getting away with it."

The 520-pupil Maungaturoto school could be the first in the country to
introduce such testing. Other schools already test known drug users
and use sniffer dogs to catch drug-takers, but it is believed none do
so on a random basis.

Mr Cullen said there were no plans to drug test teachers as
well.

"This is for the students. The thrust is to be able to provide a safe
school environment where the kids are able to resist any peer pressure."

Problems with staff would be dealt with differently, he
said.

Mr Cullen and principal Haydn Hutching posed the question of random
drug testing to parents in June. Three students had been caught
smoking marijuana and a sniffer dog had found one student with
marijuana, others with marijuana residue, and places where the drug
had been hidden.

Future random visits from sniffer dogs would complement a "totally
random pick-and-test at any time", Mr Cullen said.

The school would test for marijuana, methamphetamine, opiates, cocaine
and alcohol, with the tests in the form of urine and swab samples by a
qualified medical person.

"If we do find anyone, it's the procedure afterwards that we really
need to nail down," Mr Cullen said. "As far as I am concerned there
will be an immediate stand-down and that child would not be able to
come back to school without a clear drugs test at a medical centre.

"This is a positive thing, not a search and destroy."

However, not everyone agrees.

Blair Anderson, the director of Educators for Sensible Drug Policy,
said randomly tested students were treated as guilty before being
proved innocent, "and that's fundamentally flawed".

"Why create a sense of mistrust in a school? Scare tactics don't
work."

There was no evidence random drug testing would reduce cannabis use in
schools, he said.

However, Mr Hutching said a school in England which introduced random
tests had seen drug use almost completely fall away.

"It has given the kids the excuse to say no, the headmaster said the
kids were pleased to be able to do that."

Ministry of Education spokesman Vince Cholewa said a school had the
right to introduce random drug testing if it complied with the Bill of
Rights, but warned it should seek independent legal advice before
going ahead.

Mr Hutching said the school had done its homework and believed it
could go ahead if it was "scrupulously fair".

Kevin Robinson, whose daughter Nicole is head girl at Otamatea High,
had no problem with random drug testing - "but I would like to see the
people supplying the drugs to these kids dealt to".

Terry McCook, whose two girls are former students, was all for the move:
"I think the foremost thing is the kids have got to have a safe
environment when they go to school so they come out with a better
education and as better citizens."