BONGS IN SHOW AND TELL

CHILDREN as young as 10 will be shown bongs at school as part of a
push to educate them about drugs.

The drug and alcohol teaching resources, which will be launched in WA
schools in July for Years 4 to 7, will focus on the dangers of
cannabis. Previous programs have only touched on the subject.

Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich has given the project the
thumbs-up.

"I don't think it would be unusual for 10 and 11-year-olds to be
asking their mother and father what is marijuana or (to have) heard
it mentioned within a context by another child," she said.

"But, of course, the issue is making sure that students get the right
message and the message is that no drugs are good for you."

School Drug Education and Road Aware project officer Kim Chute said
there had been a push for more drug education because research showed
that children were being exposed to cannabis earlier than people thought.

"That part of it will be for Year 6 and 7 and they will be taught
more facts about things like the short and long-term effects of
cannabis, and the illegality of it," Ms Chute said.

"(We will get) police in as guest speakers and they might bring in
little kits that have the cannabis and the bongs, and that sort of
stuff, just demystifying cannabis for the kids.

"They will be told this (bong) is the apparatus that some people use,
but it's illegal and everything to do with cannabis is still illegal,
and about the effects. Basically it is not a 'Just say no' approach,
it's 'Let's talk about it, let's see what it does'.

"And let's talk about some scenarios where you could be exposed to
those things and how you could be exposed."

There would a big focus on developing decision-making skills which
children could use to resist pressures to use cannabis, alcohol and
cigarettes, or even to help them behave safely on the road.

Alcohol would be dealt with in the program at Years 4 and 5. Students
would learn in high school about other illicit drugs. On Friday,
another new resource pack, to help teachers of kindergarten to Year 3
students teach awareness of legal drugs and road safety, was launched
at Ardross Primary School.

Key areas of the program include medicines, hazardous substances,
tobacco, passive smoking, caffeine and promoting reasoning, and
decision-making ability in children.