PARENTS WANT DRUG TESTING IN SCHOOLS

WORRIED parents are demanding schools in Wales drugs test their children.

They are urging the National Assembly to follow the English lead by
bringing in controversial guidelines which could see sniffer dogs being
brought into classrooms and pupils being asked to give urine samples.

A spokeswoman for the Assembly yesterday confirmed that the Westminster
guidelines, due to be issued to head teachers in England later this month,
do not apply to Wales.

Father-of-one Jeff Gregory, of Trealaw, near Porth, has organised a
petition to lobby the Assembly on the issue.

He said, "Yet again we're going to be left behind in Wales. Why should
politicians tell us we can't have drug testing when it's what the people want?

"Going round the Rhondda, parents say they want testing brought into schools.

"They say everything else that has been tried so far hasn't been
successful, and I honestly believe this would work.

"These measures have been invoked in America and in private schools in
England and have worked.

"We've got such a problem in the Rhondda that we're willing to try anything."

Mr Gregory, leader of the Rhondda People's Party, insisted the move was not
politically motivated.

The calls follow years of warnings about a "drugs epidemic" blighting the
South Wales Valleys.

And just last week, The Western Mail reported how experts believe every
secondary school in Wales, from the most affluent areas to the socially
deprived, now teach children who are abusing drugs or alcohol.

Parent Hazel Jones, 37, of Penygraig, firmly supports the petition to
introduce drugs testing into schools in Wales.

The part-time school supervisor, who has three children, said, "The drugs
are so readily available now if kids thought they were going to get tested
perhaps they would think twice about taking them in the first place.

"And if you can stop your children taking drugs, I think the human rights
issue is irrelevant. After all, if parents don't want their children
tested, that's their choice. "If any of my children were doing drugs, I
would rather know, so I could do something about it.

"You see so much of it about and pass druggies on the street and see them
off their faces, and I wouldn't want to see my children like that."

The guidelines for schools in England, being drawn up by the Department for
Education and Skills, would give head teachers the power to carry out spot
tests in their schools.

But teaching unions in England and Wales have already given the proposals a
hostile reception. And one of Wales' leading anti-drugs campaigners
yesterday added his voice to the criticism.

Paul Cannon, founder of Rhondda Against Illegal Drugs, described the
Government's reaction as "knee-jerk" and said the proposal was unworkable.

"I was flabbergasted when they reclassified cannabis and I think they're
trying to make amends by introducing testing into schools.

"The confusing message given out is that it's now OK to smoke cannabis -
but then they'll be testing children for it in schools.

"It's a non-starter because there are too many obstacles.

"Teachers clearly don't want to do it."