TOTAL ED INSTRUCTORS SOFT ON DRUGS

To the editor:

Re: "Totally cool school," May 12, by Sandra Thomas.

I was once a student at Total Ed, and I must say, it is not all about
academics and self-awareness at that school. I dropped out of that school
about 18 months ago. The faculty there have a serious problem when it comes
to turning a blind eye to the severe drug problem going on at that school.

When it comes to hard drugs, like heroin, or crack, they do help out some
of the students who want help. I know this because one of my friends that
also went there had a problem with heroin. But when it comes to pot, the
faculty members need to take off their rose-coloured glasses. Students
would go during break or at lunch or on their spare to get high. A vast
majority of the students that went there had a real problem with marijuana,
and it was well known among those interested in going to alternative
schools, and those involved in some way with alternative schools. The
faculty was (at least while I attended) aware of this problem, but
seemingly did nothing about it.

I was one of the few students, if not the only student, that wasn't a user.
In fact, I'd never smoked a marijuana joint in my life, and had only come
into contact with a joint once. This news spread quickly within the school.
There were a lot of pushers, dealers, and sellers in that school. To them,
this was good news. Fortunately, I made very clear that I was not at all
interested.

We once had some students get high inside the school, right by the nursery,
and as far as we (the students) could tell, nothing was done about it.

The counsellors went from class to class telling us that the person who did
this will be severely punished, and that it should not happen again. We all
knew it was a crock. We all knew (or at least had very strong suspicions
about) who was involved. Nothing was done.

Another time, we had a school trip out to the Chief. A few students got to
the peak first, and got high. One of the faculty members saw the students
getting high, and all this person did was shake their head, and walk away.

It was instances such as those that upset me, and I couldn't take it
anymore. So I did what a typical teenager would do. I left. Granted, there
were various other reasons that further nudged me into dropping out, but
this was certainly the kicker.

Mindemoya Tschankre

Vancouver