SNIFFER DOGS ARE A GOOD IDEA

Drugs In Schools: It's Not About Trust

Can you imagine a couple of Hamilton police officers and their
narcotics-sniffing dog nosing along the lockers of our kids in high school
or even, in some cases, middle school?

Well the image certainly comes very easily to our minds, and, to our
surprise, we like it.

Obviously the fact that most of the members of The Spectator's editorial
board are parents colours our opinion and you must bear that in mind.

But when it comes to drugs and schools and our kids, suddenly we've
discovered a serious difficulty with trying to muster up any libertarian
outrage.

In fact, we applaud the Hamilton public and separate school boards for
asking police to come into their schools to search for drugs.

It's a good idea and don't worry about any nonsense you may hear about not
trusting our students.

That complaint's not coming from the parental quarter.

In fact, here's the message our students need to hear: We, parents and
teachers, trust our students completely -- except for the ones who may be
bringing drugs into our schools. We don't trust them at all and we want the
drugs intercepted, the parents told and appropriate action taken to
straighten the kid out.