PARENTS ARE THE DETERRENT

While there is no doubt that any community should be working hard to
prevent substance abuse, we do need to carefully consider how our actions
might affect our children.

We're not saying random drug checks using dogs aren't a good idea, as long
as they remain random and don't become an accepted part of school life.

However, when Abbotsford school trustee Uultsje DeJong says he wants to
have monthly locker checks and have dogs at high school dances-"we could
have a dog at the door. The further we push this the better I would like
it"-a chill descends in the air.

The whole idea just smacks of police state control, and that could be
dangerous because we could be raising a generation of people who become
accustomed to having their behaviour controlled by the state. We're also
telling the kids, no matter who they are, we don't trust them.

And can the police really afford to do checks with drug dogs as often as
proposed?

As far as deterrents go, when police dogs were brought into Clearbrook
Junior 30 years ago, students simply stashed their grass off school grounds.

Other deterrents could be emphasized, such as parents at dances.

As parents and educators, we want to guide our children as best as we can.
We do that by talking to our kids from the time they're infants to when
they're teenagers, which is when they really need us. We need to keep the
lines of communication open to them on all topics, including drugs and sex.

We also teach by gradually letting go and allowing them to make the right
choices on their own, and most teens do.

To put the constant surveillance into an adult context, it would the same
as posting drug dogs and officers at our workplaces, or forcing employees
to take random urine tests or to give hair samples to ensure we're not
ingesting something illegal on the weekend.

Is that something we are prepared to live with in our daily lives?