SCHOOLS GOING TO THE DOGS

The Abbotsford school district's move to bring drug-sniffing dogs into
schools will eradicate illegal drugs from local schools.

Either that or the problem will simply go on unabated as it has in
other security-conscious institutions like those within the prison
system.

The controversial decision to conduct random monthly searches at
middle and high schools was turned down in other districts - most
recently in Surrey - but Abbotsford aims to forge onward with a plan
to sniff out trouble in the backpacks and lockers of its students.

Opponents says the plan is an invasion of privacy and will do nothing
but teach young people we don't trust them.

Visions of Big Brother quickly come to play in conspiratorial minds.

What's next?

Drug testing of staff and students?

Metal detectors at the doors?

Strip searches?

Proponents argue however, that heavy-handed policies such as this are
needed to quell the explosion of drug use among the 19,000 students in
the system.

"Everybody has to take a stand. This is a war," says Des McKay,
principal of W.J. Mouat Secondary School.

And he's absolutely right, it is a war. But the question has always
been the same since Nancy Reagan coined the phrase more than 20 years
ago, how do we fight something so big and so insidious?

Drug-sniffing dogs in our children's hallways at school is but one
small part of the giant puzzle.

And if the majority of parents, teachers and students agree, all the
better. But a more comprehensive community plan is needed to fight
problems like drug use and abuse in Abbotsford.

Who has this plan?