PROACTIVE APPROACH TO TEEN DRUG USE

HUNTSVILLE - "Make no mistake, there are drugs in every single high
school in North America," said Kevin Cutler, superintendent of special
education and safe schools for Trillium Lakelands District School Board.

"School is just a microcosm of the world we live in. If there are
drugs in the community, there will be drugs in the school. We live in
the community."

A recent study issued by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
shows an area that includes Muskoka leads the way in many categories
when it comes to drug and alcohol abuse. School and law enforcement
officials are on the frontlines when it comes to the battle against
substance abuse.

Cutler sees drugs in school as a 50-year-old issue that needs a new
attack.

"Yeah it's there," he said. "I'd either be lying or an idiot if I said
it's not there."

And he advocates a proactive approach to drug use in the
school.

"You can talk about substance abuse . (but) it's about children's
mental health," he said. "We're coming to an era when we're going to
get together and talk about ways we can address these issues that will
ultimately have an effect. Gone are the days when dealing with drugs
is the war on drugs . 'If we catch you we'll do this,' - that's
reactive - we need to be proactive and we need to engage parents as
well."

He has seen the statistics that indicate Muskoka has a high prevalence
of teen substance abuse and knows the problem isn't simple; it
reflects equally complex issues within our community.

"It's not just a police issue, and it's not just a school issue," he
said, adding that school is "the one place we know every child in our
community should be."

Students must stay in school until they are 18 years old and Cutler
emphasizes the importance of engaging all learners for that time. He
says there are student success teachers and guidance counsellors at
the school, trained to deal with drug issues. Addiction outreach and
community policing efforts bring information and demonstrations into
the schools beginning in primary grades.

Huntsville Ontario Provincial Police constable Lynda Cranney is the
community-policing officer most of the area's children start getting
to know in Grade 3. She brings videos, activities and drug awareness
into the schools whenever she is invited.

She also believes in a proactive approach to teen drug abuse based on
communication, education and youth justice. There is a Diversion
program specifically set out for young offenders that often addresses
them in a restorative rather than punitive manner.

"The police are not always looking to lay charges with everyone that
we come in contact with . that are partaking in drugs," she said. "The
dynamics of what the police can do depends on the community at large.
We welcome information that can lead us in assisting the community in
dealing with these issues."

At one time there was a police officer dedicated to the high school
full time, but that is no longer the case. Now the regular officers on
duty handle any calls to the school.

The only high school class Cranney presents to is the careers class,
and that isn't really about drugs.

"Ultimately you're trying to give them all the information they need
to make the right choices," said Cutler, about drug education
programs. "Kids will make the wrong choices - it's what they do. But
our responses as adults can't be completely punitive."

He says a proactive response is both consequential and
supportive.

"If they feel you've just written them off, they feel almost justified
in their actions," he said.

But don't get the idea that he's soft.

Students caught with drugs are dealt with according to the code of
conduct, and often that means suspension or expulsion. "We have had a
number of expulsions in our board this year, in fact we're having one
today," he said on Friday.

He's not shy about searching backpacks or opening lockers.

"Legally, I can open lockers," he said.

"We own the lockers; the kids don't own the lockers. In issues
regarding school safety - if I have reason to believe someone has
something illegal that can compromise school safety, I have the right
to go into that locker. We're going in - we will search the backpack -
we will ask them to empty their pockets," he said.

Cutler has had parents respond negatively when their children are
found to have drugs through a search, and it disturbs him. He says
some parents have an issue, not with the drugs, but with the fact that
the school searched the student or the locker.

If the school catches a student with enough quantity, with scales,
baggies and rolled up money, they are taken to an expulsion hearing
and often police will lay charges.

He remembers the days when an expelled student was gone for good.
Times have changed.

"It doesn't mean the kid is just kicked out of school," he
said.

"It means they're out for a period of time. They still have the
support of a teacher to work with them on their schoolwork so they
don't lose credits and they also have some nonacademic components they
have to fulfill."

Those components often include counselling and addiction outreach.
Cutler says families that have completed the addiction outreach work
often come out better for it. "When they come out of that process it's
a life changing experience for some of them," he said. "Once they're
taken completely out of that milieu . the influence of other kids .
they actually get more school work done."

Cutler is hopeful for the future.

"Maybe the work we're doing and the police are doing with Grade 3/ 4
kids - we could be talking 10 years from now and it will be a whole
different picture," he said.

He added that Huntsville High School is a rich place for students with
music, arts, drama, sports and student-led initiatives like the Me to
We campaign, where kids go to other countries to build schools and
wells.

"The thing you need to understand about kids now, they are very
worldly in their view," he said. "They have some real strong opinions
about the world, about the environment . We can talk to young people
about drugs, about drinking and driving, (but) they would be just as
happy to talk to you about the oil spill going on in Louisiana.

"They're hooked up all the time (through technology); they're seeing
what's going on in the world. We've got to give them some credit."