TRUSTEE WORRIES ABOUT DRUG PEDDLING

A school trustee was worried the district's anti-drug policy wasn't being
enforced, but RCMP say if the school calls, an officer will be there.

Trustee Cheryl Wiebe told board members Wednesday night that she'd heard
students at a local middle school know they can get away with carrying
around small amounts of drugs at school because the RCMP won't respond
unless it's a large amount.

The district has a drug-free zone, set up about five years ago, that states
anyone with drugs or paraphernalia within two kilometres of the school will
get stiffer penalties.

"Over the last year it seems to have become more lax," said Wiebe.

"The RCMP are only responding to calls when there are more than two grams
of any sort of drug."

The concern is students can come with one gram, sell it and go home for
more without getting nabbed by the police.

That's simply not the case, said RCMP Const. Heather Macdonald.

"If they call, we attend," she said.

She pointed out that the RCMP have a constant presence in local high
schools with two RCMP officer liaisons, one serving Kelowna secondary and
Okanagan Mission secondary and the other at Rutland senior secondary and
Immaculata High.

While research shows drug use among teens is increasing, especially at
younger ages, the RCMP are not arresting more teenagers for drug crimes at
school.

"There's been no increase in the number of calls," said Macdonald.

Schools superintendent Ron Rubadeau said when the drug-free zone policy was
initially set up it was effective and students paid attention.

Students also get suspended if they have drugs.

But, while the number of suspensions has gone up over the years, it hasn't
been by a substantial amount and may not be an indicator of drug use.

Rubadeau said teens may just be going off the school grounds.

As well, he added it hasn't seemed to be a deterrent to teens using drugs.

According to the McCreary Centre's adolescent health report of 1998, 40 per
cent of B.C. kids from Grades 7 to 12 have tried marijuana, up from 25 per
cent six years earlier.

As well, 78 per cent of those users said they first tried it when they were
14 years old or younger.

The question now is if the school district is doing enough to curb drug use
among teens.

"That's a critical issue," said Rubadeau.

Education programs in school don't seem to be the deterrent they were
expected to be, he said, along with the drug-free zone.

A local Okanagan University professor, Marvin Kranke, is in the middle of a
study of drug use among local teens and the final findings of that may
spark different ideas in dealing with the drug problem.

Wiebe said she heard that the Abbotsford school district had brought in a
dog team to sniff out drugs in schools.

"I don't think our situation is that serious, but there are solutions out
there we may need to take a step further if it doesn't change."