DON'T MAKE STUDENTS CRIMINALS

I was appalled by the news report detailing the St. James Assiniboia School
Division's intention to urge the Manitoba School Trustees Association to
"demand" that Ottawa get tougher on marijuana laws. This association has no
business or mandate to take a stand on matters other than education.

There is no doubt that smoking marijuana can have negative effects on the
user, but turning young people who engage in smoking marijuana into
criminals and hardened felons is certainly not the correct way to deal with
this issue. How ironic that a school board cannot "learn a lesson from
history." Prohibition in the United States proved that outlawing the use of
a drug (in that case alcohol) actually increases the hold of organized
crime on the illicit economy and only serves to ostracize the users of the
drug. The overcrowding in jails in both Canada and the United States would
be greatly diminished if the possession of marijuana were changed to a
misdemeanor. Police resources could be utilized to make our neighbourhoods
safer instead of running after teenagers experimenting with drugs.

There is no reason to exacerbate the negative effects of drug use by adding
the stigma of a criminal record to the weight a drug user must bear. There
is no need for the "zero tolerance" policy and attitude where a young drug
user is faced with the added trauma of being kicked out of the school for
drug use. Surely the fact that the present criminalization of drug use is
not effective must be obvious to thinking people everywhere. Is it not
better to leave the student in school where counselling and forgiveness can
be utilized to help the student deal with their drug use? Now, as well as
denying the student an education, the St. James Assiniboia School Division
has decided that retribution should also include denying the young person
their freedom and future?

RICHARD KELLIE

Winnipeg