DRUGS IN OUR SCHOOLS

Alarm bells should be ringing in Halton households over the drug sting at an
Oakville high school that has resulted in 14 drug trafficking charges
against students.

If Halton parents' eyes aren't open to the possibility their teenaged son or
daughter may be using drugs then they should be.

The fact of the matter is drug enforcement in Halton high schools has been
so lax the kids have been smoking marijuana on school property.

That's what an undercover Halton police officer witnessed at General Wolfe
High School in a two month undercover operation. During that time the
officer purchased marijuana, hashish and magic mushrooms.

This incident comes on the heels of a report of 16 students at a Burlington
high school who came down with a mysterious rash from smoking contaminated hash.

And only a few months ago several Milton high school students tried to buy
heroin just off the school premises.

The most telling comment from all of this comes from Acting Detective
Sergeant Carey Smith.

"Drugs in the schools is a problem. It's not a problem for that particular
school anymore than any other school."

The fact is local high school students are buying and selling drugs at their
schools. A study by the Hamilton-Wentworth public health department released
this year revealed more Hamilton high school students were using marijuana
than those across the province.

POTENTIAL TO DO SERIOUS HARM

The survey of 1,810 students found 38 per cent had tried marijuana compared
to 33 per cent of high school students in Ontario.

In 1996 a local high school's unscientific survey suggested 93 per cent of
parents didn't believe students used cannabis. That compares to only 67 per
cent of students who believed there peers weren't using the drug.

What makes high school drug use such a concern? As we have seen with the
contaminated hash, this stuff, unlike alcohol, comes with no labels and has
the potential to do serious harm.

Secondly, it raises the questions of where the students are finding the
money to support their drug use. Is it such a stretch to believe petty theft
may be the source of the drug buys?

We commend the staff at General Wolfe for working with police to help solve
the drug problem at that school.

The reality is these kids involved in this drug use could be your kids. The
onus is on all of us to try and open the lines of communication with our
teens about these issues. Silence won't solve anything.

Finally, we would hope these latest drug busts serve as a wake up call to
Halton District School Board trustees as well. There are obviously much more
serious issues happening in our schools than whether our students should be
dressed in uniforms for the next semester. Let's start addressing them.

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett