OUR DOGS ARE GOING TO THE 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.

Details still need to be worked out, according to school board policy
chairman Don Szostak, such as which company will be contracted, how much
the program will cost, how often and which schools will be searched and the
types of illegal drugs the canines will be sniffing out.

Between now and the first school board meeting in February, the board is
welcoming feedback on the proposal - from teachers, administrators,
parents, students and anybody else with an opinion - from which the
program's finer points will be finalized.

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.

We 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.

And, as school board chairwoman Joanne Field says, "Schools cannot be seen
as being agents of the police. (But) in the course of doing our own work,
we find out things that need to be passed on to the police, it is our duty
to do so."

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 was ready to use its dogs in Surrey schools until the Surrey
school board eventually nixed the idea. Jonatschick says costs vary,
depending on the service provided.

But a run through a school with 800 lockers would entail two dog teams
(handler and canine) spending about an hour in the building, at $60 per
hour, per dog team (Jonatschick notes that at least two canines would be
needed as the animals "burn out" and need a rest after about 25 minutes of
the intensive work).

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.

In Savannah, Ga. in March of this year, where kids actually line up in the
halls, empty their pockets and surrender their backpacks in random
searches, a 16-year-old "B" student was suspended for "passive
participation, despite the fact no drugs were found in or on his backpack.

The mere fact that the dog indicated the presence of drugs was enough to
give the kid the boot.

A tad Orwellian, we'd say.

In whatever form the program finally appears here, it should be made clear
to all that simply using dogs to sniff out drugs in our schools is but a
small step in trying to convince our youth that using drugs - legal or
otherwise - is a path best not travelled while in school.

This can be emphasized through increased education and better access to
counselling and rehabilitation services.

Szostak says response to the school board's proposal has thus far been
positive, anecdotally.

"In general, it seems to me most people are in favour of doing something to
fight this war."

And 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.

We 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."