JUDGE PRAISES DOPE PEDDLER'S ANTI-DRUG ESSAY

The second draft of a high school student's essay on the perils of ecstasy
use received high marks from a provincial judge yesterday.

Penned by a former Kelvin High School student caught peddling ecstasy in a
drug bust last winter, the re-written treatise fared much better than the
teen's original effort, which included preventive measures for "safe"
consumption of the substance.

Judge Cathy Everett, who ordered the essay be written as part of the teen's
punishment, appeared much happier with the re-write during a review hearing
held yesterday.

"I note that the offending passages have been removed," Everett said. "By
removing some of those passages, (he) has removed some of the misleading
and erroneous advice that the essay contained regarding harm reduction."

Everett had also ordered the teen to read his essay in city high schools as
part of his community service work but deleted that requirement in December
after flunking him on the first essay.

Yesterday, Everett added an extra 32 hours to the teen's community service
requirement, noting the work will likely take the form of "general"
maintenance and clean up.

Both Everett and Crown attorney Joan Schmidt said it was unfortunate the
teen's first entry attracted so much media attention, citing in particular
excerpts printed in another newspaper.

"The irony of the whole situation (was that) the good intentions of the
court ... were sort of undermined," Schmidt said. "The very thing you
wanted to tell a small group of people not to do, ended up on the front page."

The new version of the essay includes portions detailing visits to the
emergency room and ecstasy-related deaths.

Schmidt said the information is especially timely given the recent death of
a Boissevain teenager who overdosed on ecstasy at her 20th birthday party
last weekend.

Neil Kravetsky, the former Kelvin student's lawyer, said he's been faring
well with his probation workers and has a full-time after-school job.