'WAR' ON DRUGS SHOULD NOT BE INFLICTED ON STUDENTS

The Editor,

Re: "Drug dogs would cost schools," the Now, Jan. 7.

Thankfully there will most likely be too little money left over in the
kitty after waging war on gay literature and the provincial
government's inability to raise our budget appropriately to pursue
this nonsense of drug dogs in our schools.

In my Canada, our beautiful Charter protects all citizens, even
students. Schools are a place of learning, not a battle ground, and
the establishment's "war" on drugs has no place in our youth's halls.
Youth use drugs for a number of reasons, most of which are the exact
same reasons why their parents experimented. There are already tools
available to teachers to deal with problem students being high in
class. Leave the "war" to the adults.

This will not prevent little Timmy from becoming a crack-head.
Crack-heads do not attend high school.

We as a society need to stop parenting through our institutions, be
they schools, police or government. Rather than converting our houses
of knowledge into an even grander fascist state, why don't we loosen
the reigns even further to allow true discourse of ideas and preserve
their role as the last stab at true self-expression?

I graduated six years ago, so it is still fresh in my mind how much
high school sucked. You get ragged on for chewing gum, picked on by
the popular kids, censored for Marilyn Manson shirts and detentions
for using language that I am sure frequents the teachers lounge as
much as it does in any work place. You have to ask permission to use
the washroom! Imagine doing that at work.

As a parent I fully understand the fears that come along with the
responsibility, and with much dread I am watching my son enter the
public school system next year. Drugs are not my main fear. Through
education, love and attentiveness I am confident that my son will
learn the place and time for drugs. I do fear, however, the lack of
books, the oversized classrooms, overbearing knee-jerk reactions to
teenage angst and experimentation, and the effects that other students
- - whose parents treat education as a daycare - will have on my son. I
fear his creativity or self-expression will be stifled because they do
not fall within the guidelines of our standardized learning
environments. These are the issues that should concern us.

The war on drugs and the upper hand with which it is enforced has
robbed our adult world of so much as is. Let's leave the kids to being
kids. Their world is crappy enough, even if only in their eyes, they
do not need to become a part of our war, nor do I think they care to.

Chris Ayres

Surrey