SCHOOLS MINISTER BACKS DRUG TESTS

SCHOOLS Minister and Bury MP Ivan Lewis today defended plans for random
drug tests in schools.

Guidance will be given to head teachers next month, giving them powers to
carry out the tests, including taking samples from pupils and use of
sniffer dogs, even without the consent of parents.

The move, announced by Tony Blair, has caused anger among MPs, councillors
and some teachers' unions.

Teachers at a Manchester secondary school, St Thomas Aquinas, in Chorlton,
have already been told to stop and search pupils suspected of carrying
drugs after two 14-year-old boys were caught smoking cannabis on a bus on
the way to school.

Head teacher John O'Callaghan said earlier this month they did not have a
particular drug problem, but he is determined to send a tough message to
pupils who will be asked to empty their pockets and their bags if there are
suspicions of drug taking. Parents will be contacted.

The government plan is for spot-testing of youngsters, but teaching unions
and drugs charities fear checks could create more problems than they solve.

Procedures Jean Gemmell, general secretary of the Professional Association
of Teachers, said: "My first reaction was to be fairly horrified, mostly
because I can't quite see how on earth it will work."

And Manchester Green councillor Vanessa Hall said it was an incredible
attack on young people's rights to be subjected to enforced medical
procedures in school.

But today, Mr Lewis, MP for Bury South, defended the plan and said he
believed it would get the support of a majority of parents - although he
admitted he did not know how many head teachers backed the move.

"Many of them said they wanted the full range of powers to take the
necessary action," he said. "If you found a child taking drugs, and if
dealing was involved, the norm would be exclusion. Where you find that for
the first time a child is taking drugs, the idea is to get education,
rehabilitation and help as quickly as possible to turn the child off the habit.

"We need to identify as quickly as possible when children are engaging in
drug-taking and I think the majority of parents would welcome that in our
schools."

The prime minister said that if head teachers believed they had a problem
in their schools, they should be able to carry out random drug tests.

Tory spokesman Tim Collins accused the government of sending mixed messages
on drugs after the recent downgrading of cannabis, and Lib Dem spokesman
Phil Willis said tackling drug abuse should not be a problem for head teachers.