IS THERE A PLACE FOR DRUG DOGS IN SCHOOLS?

Data from the Canadian Addiction Survey was released yesterday, showing
that marijuana use is growing as fast as the plantations throughout the
Lower Mainland, with double the number of respondents (14 per cent,
compared to 7.4 per cent in 1994) saying they have used pot in the past
year and almost half of all respondents saying they have smoked marijuana
in their lifetime (44.5 per cent, compared to 28.2 per cent in 1994)

While the survey shows pot use on the rise, the Abbotsford school board is
still trying to rid the illegal weed - and other illegal drugs - from its
schools.

This week, the school board decided to proceed with plans to use
drug-sniffing dogs from private companies to search common property in some
schools.

Expect the dogs to be in the schools next year, and expect all high schools
and some middle schools to be visited, at least on a monthly basis.

With the federal government making moves to liberalize marijuana laws, and
with polls showing the public more accepting of pot use, the decision by
Abbotsford school trustees may seem to some to be out of step.

I don't agree.

While there may indeed be a place in society for legal marijuana -
regulated and taxed like alcohol - there is no place in schools for pot. Or
alcohol. Or any other drug of choice, legal or prohibited.

There have been concerns from the B.C. Civil Liberties Association about
the possible stigmatization of students associated with a locker pegged as
a possible drug source by a nosy mutt.

That concern has, however, been addressed by plans to bring in the dogs
while students are in class behind closed doors - and to search any lockers
after school hours.

While the Abbotsford school district, and others, have used police drug
dogs in the past, Szostak notes it has been a "one or two-shot approach,"
which differs from the plan to establish a regular sweep through schools
using private firms with trained dogs.

The largest canine service provider in Western Canada is located 35 minutes
east of Abbotsford, in New Westminster, where Rob Jonatschick is owner and
president of Blacktower Security Services.

Blacktower's dogs are trained to sniff out six drug odours: including
marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine.

Needless to say, Jonatschick would like to bid on the Abbotsford school
board contract, if and when it is tendered.

However, with a cautious endorsement of school board's plans comes concern,
based on some incidents in the U.S., where virtually every state has dogs
searching schools, not only for drugs, but for weapons as well.

However, even the most liberal-minded parent must realize the need for kids
to learn in an environment as drug-free as possible, even if it is only
within the walls of the school.

I echo the comments of Ronald Stephens, executive director of the National
School Safety Center in California.

"If we're going to require kids to attend school, then we ought to be
required to provide safe schools."