DRUG FREE ZONE PROPOSED FOR AGASSIZ HIGH SCHOOL

It is a concept that has already met with success at schools in Hope,
Sardis and throughout BC, and now there are plans to designate Agassiz high
school and its perimeter a Drug Free Zone.

"It tends to push the drugs away from the schools," explains AESS Principal
Peter Richmond. "The idea is heightened awareness that this is an area we
do not want drugs."

Richmond was principal at Hope Secondary School four years ago when
students there pushed to implement a Drug Free Zone around that school.

They formed a youth action committee and presented their proposal to
muncipal council, which subsequently supported the initiative.

The concept is relatively simple. With the community, school and police
working together, a roughly two block radius around the school is
designated a Drug Free Zone. Street signs are posted throughout the zone,
sending a clear message to would-be drug users and dealers that drugs are
not tolerated there.

"The idea is - if the courts buy into the idea - that there would be an
increased penalty for being caught in that area," Richmond notes.

"I believe it does have an impact."

Jan Farrell, principal of Mount Slesse Middle School in Sardis thinks there
is another reason Drug Free Zones work. She suggests that because the
initiatives are spearheaded by students, that the program empowers them.

A similar project took flight in her school two years ago when students
teamed up with faculty and then-RCMP school liaison officer Cst. Len Van
Nieuwenhuizen.

The impetus was a drug problem in the neighbouring park.

"I think the key piece to this is it has been driven by the youth and not
sort of top down," Farrell explains. " It was a group of students who got
this program going and took the initiative for it."

The City of Chilliwack picked up the tab for several street signs, each one
bearing a Drug Free Zone emblem designed by the students. Crime Stoppers
donated money toward the printing of campaign awareness flyers that
werecampaign awareness flyers that were distributed throughout the
immediate neighbourhood.

The idea to create the Drug Free Zone was fostered during an annual
training symposium organized by the BC Youth Policing Network. Afterward,
the students were able to return to the conference and share their
accomplishment with peers.

Cst. Van Nieuwenhuizen says the program has definitely had a positive
affect within the school and in the area.

"One thing it does when you have a plan like this is bring the students,
teachers and police together in preventative action.

"It creates teamwork, it's being proactive and it pays dividends."

Mount Slesse teacher Leslie Waddington says the best things to come out of
the campaign have been awareness and community support.

"Our feeling as staff is that this Drug Free Zone has been influential
toward our facing this problem," she said. "It was the first Drug Free Zone
in Chilliwack and the intention was preventative education, and to make the
community a safe place.

"I would say it's had some positive effect."

So positive in fact that students Tiffany Peters and Alisha Yau, who were
part of the Mount Slesse Drug Free Zone team, want to get a similar
campaign going at Sardis Secondary, where both now attend school.

"In June we met with a school from the Vancouver area and we spent the
afternoon with them," explained Waddington. "They looked at what we had
done. "That was really neat to see. The word's getting out and spreading
throughout the Lower Mainland."

Richmond says the local parent advisory council and the student leadership
class are both very supportive of creating a Drug Free Zone for Agassiz.

It is essential that students guide the concept, he adds. Without them,
nothing happens.

"I think it is something that needs to be continuously reinforced and I
believe it does have an impact."

He hopes to have the campaign initiated during this school year.
distributed throughout the neighbourhood.