DRUG DOGS UNLEASH CONTROVERSY

The recent decision by the Abbotsford school board to allow
drug-sniffing dogs into local schools has prompted heated response
from both sides of the issue. Read on:

Editor, The News:

Murray Mollard, the executive director of the B.C. Civil Liberties
Association, needs a reality check. Drug use is rampant in the schools
and society itself.

Kids are experimenting with cigarettes and getting addicted, and using
some of the not-so-soft drugs.

Even the pot available today is much stronger than the pot of the
past. How are they supporting these experiments which could easily
become addictions?

Go to the downtown eastside in Vancouver. What a waste of human life -
some very young and very addicted.

Have a look in the prison system. Maybe if someone had known how to
intervene or cared enough to, we wouldn't have the jails so full of
drug-addicted, HIV-positive people.

Yes, these are people, too, and they are strip-searched upon entering
jail. Ever hear of a cavity search, Mr. Mollard?

Would you rather turn a blind eye and let the schools be churning out
the next generation of addicts? Kids want to fit in with the crowd.
Predators are everywhere, selling drugs to the kids and recruiting for
all kinds of things.

How would a kid get falsely labeled as a drug user? If there are drugs
in your locker, you have some explaining to do. I can only say, it's
about time.

Lee Harris,

Mission