FETTES BLASTS GOVERNMENT'S DRUG STANCE

ONE of Scotland's most prestigious public schools, which boasts Tony Blair
among its former pupils, has lambasted the government's relaxed stance on
cannabis use amid fears it will seriously undermine anti-drugs education.

Michael Spens, the headteacher of Fettes College, Edinburgh, said making
possession of the drug a non-arrestable offence contradicted his and many
other private schools' hard-line attitude towards cannabis smoking.

Mr Spens, whose institution has had its own welldocumented drugs problems,
even warned that many Scottish public schools may take the unprecedented
step of abandoning their long-standing zero-tolerance towards drugs.

He said: "I can see a time when any hard-line approach against drugs in
schools will have to be watered down because it just won't be compatible
with what's happening socially and politically."

Mr Spens added that the soft approach towards cannabis left schools in the
impossible situation of enforcing anti-drugs campaigns while the government
was sending out a different message. "It will be very, very difficult to
have a hard-line policy on cannabis and I am disappointed that the
government has gone down this route - it makes my job much more difficult,"
he said. "You can't say that taking cannabis is bad when the law of the
land takes a much softer approach.

"It is a confusing message for children."

The headmaster also accused some young professional parents of an
"abdication of parental responsibility", by expecting schools to adopt a
tough approach to drug misuse among under-18s when cannabis use is
commonplace among their own age group.

"The softening of the cannabis laws is a reaction to the fact that it's
already acceptable among 20 to 30-year-olds to take cannabis and has been
acceptable for some time," Mr Spens said. "But the reality is that parents
in that age group will send their children to a private school precisely
because they want this hard-line approach.

"In that sense, it could be seen by some as almost an abdication of
parental responsibility."

In February, Fettes expelled three sixth-formers for using cannabis. The
same number expelled by the entire state sector in Edinburgh over the
previous 18 months. A fourth pupil at Fettes was later excluded for leaking
information to the media.

David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, reclassified cannabis in July,
prompting the resignation of the government's drugs tsar, Keith Hellawell.
The softening of the drugs laws, which is due to come into effect next
summer, has also been condemned by some state schools.

By 2003, all state secondary schools will be required to have an anti-drugs
strategy, with UKP14.5 million in funding promised for this year, rising to
UKP17.5 million next year.

Already, all secondary schools provide lessons in drug awareness and warn
pupils about the dangers of drugs and alcohol. But such lessons are up
against a youth culture in which the use of alcohol and drugs is widespread.

A survey of more than 30,000 secondary pupils early this year found that
among 16-year-olds, 24.7 per cent of pupils were regular smokers, 40.8 per
cent drank alcohol regularly and 7.7 per cent regularly used illegal drugs.
The survey, carried out by Adolescent Assessment Services, found that
younger pupils were already experimenting.

Among 12 year olds, 6.3 per cent smoked, 8.3 per cent drank and 0.8 per
cent used drugs.

The Edinburgh Academy has also been forced to face up to drug problems, but
it has since won praise for allowing pupils who have admitted using drugs
to stay at school, provided they agree to random drug tests.

John Light, the rector of the Edinburgh Academy, said he fully respected Mr
Spen's perspective: "Every school nowadays has to confront this sort of
problem and find its way through it. My experience is that schools go to
great lengths to be fair in their dealings but they also have to give the
right signals otherwise younger pupils are put at risk and that is
something we cannot allow."

A Scottish Executive spokesman said: "We encourage all schools to have
clear procedures in place for responding to drugs misuse and we treat the
issue of drug education very seriously. Young people need clear information
about drugs and schools have a vital role to play in delivering this.

"Drug abuse can have tragic consequences so we must help pupils understand
the dangers and focus instead on achieving their potential both in school
and the wider community."