SCHOOLS TAKE NEW TACK ON DRUG USE

Pot-smoking teens will be given the chance to talk about why they
light up under a new anti-drug program in Kelowna schools. The pilot
project features a self-reporting questionnaire, a 60-minute
"motivational interview" with a counsellor and a workshop for parents
struggling with drug-using children. With its focus on education and
assistance, the program appears to be a move away from the strict,
zero-tolerance drug policy now applied in schools

Currently, pot-using students are automatically suspended for a first
offence, though they are rarely charged by police, and there is no
drug counselling or support programs provided through the schools

"We are seeing far too many kids who are being suspended for a second
and third time for drugs, so maybe the tools we're using to address
this problem are not working," John McMahon, vice-principal of
Okanagan Mission secondary, told school trustees Wednesday night

"Parents are looking for this kind of help. They're throwing their
hands up and saying, 'I don't know what to do with my son or daughter.
Is there some kind of counselling you can recommend?'" But the
prevalence of drug use in local schools, and whether it is rising,
seemed to be a matter of contention among some of the officials who've
developed the new anti-drug pilot program

"What we've noticed is an increase in marijuana usage among youth, and
a change in the type of usage, with more sharing than there used to
be," Colleen Owens, a school youth counsellor, told trustees

However, outside the board office, RCMP Cpl. Dean Childs, a police
liaison to the school district, said: "I don't think there is an
increase in drug use in schools. I haven't seen it." No statistics on
the number of drugrelated suspensions were presented to the board at
the meeting. So-called "drug-free zones" were declared around local
schools years ago, but in reality, very few teens caught using pot are
charged by police

"Everyone had this impression that the police would arrive, arrest the
kid, and take him away," Childs said

But federal legislation requires that authorities seek alternatives to
prosecution to deal with first-time young offenders, and the pilot
program is an attempt to do just that, Childs said.