PLEA FOR HELP TO COMBAT DRUGS IN SCHOOLS

Some secondary school students have told their teachers they will be taking
time off school during the cannabis harvest season.

Delegates to the PPTA's 50th annual conference in Wellington this week will
ask for more resources to combat what the union describes as a very serious
problem in schools, especially in rural areas with high Maori populations.

One South Island delegate said students were openly telling their teachers
they would be taking time off during "harvest" time, and several teachers
spoke of "stoned" students who could not be disciplined or controlled in
classrooms.

"We know our kids are stoned out there [in schools] but how do we help
them?" asked Southland observer Wiki Te Tau.

"What are the external agencies going to do to help us?"

A PPTA paper said schools had come under the spotlight from parents,
external agencies, the media and society at large, and many felt the need
to act with some determination.

As a result, drug-related suspensions amounted to almost a third of all
suspensions and more than half of those were Maori students.

Many schools were dealing with a range of drugs.

Speed had gained a strong foothold and hydroponically grown cannabis - a
more potent form - was becoming more prevalent. Drug use was typically
beginning in third and fourth form, delegates heard.

Teachers were divided on decriminalisation, although many said they would
be against it because of the effects of smoking they had seen in their
classrooms.

Few contested the verdict on cannabis put to the conference: that the use
of the drug was having a detrimental effect on learning and could have a
serious impact on long-term learning.

A paper said drug-testing in schools was controversial "because both a
saliva test for alcohol and urine test for cannabis or other drugs involves
taking bodily fluids and that constitutes search and seizure".

"It also has potentially serious consequences for a student, with a
positive drug test or the refusal to give a sample often resulting in
suspension or expulsion."

Delegates were unwilling to discuss cannabis problems in particular
schools, in part because the admission of cannabis use made schools less
attractive in a competitive environment.

Brian Harrison, a delegate from the Thames Valley, said all schools faced
the issue of cannabis use, although Fantasy and Ecstasy had also become
popular.

He said teachers reported some children coming to class late after "hard
weekends ... looking dopey and unable to concentrate".

Teachers found it difficult to deal with students' transition from
cigarettes to cannabis and the bad manners and confrontational behaviour
that often accompanied the use of cannabis.

Teachers could either report the use and destroy the trust they had built
up with the student or do nothing and risk condemnation from parents.

PPTA executive member and Gisborne teacher Timoti Maru said Maori student
users needed help from Maori pastoral workers.

"The drug issue ... has created an enormous workload for Maori teachers,
who spend an enormous amount of time on pastoral care and other steps they
need to take to address the issue."

He said schools were overburdened with a community problem and did not have
the resources to deal with the issue.

Mr Maru said he did not favour decriminalisation and felt many of his Maori
colleagues would agree.

"[Criminalisation] is a useful deterrent ... but we need a cohesive
national plan with which to address [cannabis] use in this country."

PPTA Auckland regional chairman Allan Papprill said Auckland teachers were
hoping for an endorsement of the union's policy and a recognition that the
drug problem was a serious one.