EX-POLICE OFFICER TO SPEARHEAD DRUG PROGRAM

Doug Green is clear on what he wants the Canines for Safer Schools
Program to be about.

"This is education," he said in an interview this morning from his
Edmonton home.

Green, a former Edmonton police officer who created a similar program
there, accepted the position of handler for Porter Creek Secondary
School last Friday, though the contract for the position has yet to be
signed.

It's expected Green will begin his work on June 1, school principal
Kerry Huff told the Star this morning.

Green will be joined in the move by his wife.

The program will see Green come into the school daily to do education
on drugs along with other issues facing students.

Parents began pushing for such a program about a year ago, with the
territory's Department of Education committing to fund a three-year,
$250,000 pilot project.

In Alberta, such programs see dog handlers, who are generally police
officers, come into the schools with the dog.

Green visited the territory late last year, months after Randy
Youngman, who operates the Dogs for Drug Free Schools program in
Edmonton, also was in town to make presentations on the initiative.

Both men spoke of the dogs they have acting as a good way to bridge
the gap between themselves and the students.

While the dogs are trained to indicate if they detect drugs, the
handlers noted that is not the animals' primary role.

"Nine (a.m.) to 3 (p.m.) drug-free," Green said this
morning.

Often when students know the dogs will be at the school, they opt out
of bringing drugs to school. Youngman pointed to one incident where
two known drug dealers walked into the school after his dog returned
from training, saw the animal and left the building.

As plans were being made to get the program up and running at Porter
Creek, a human rights complaint was launched by the parents of a
student who brought forward a doctor's note stating the student has a
life-threatening allergy caused by dogs.

The Yukon Human Rights Commission is not commenting on the status of
the complaint.

Huff said this morning the school is letting the Department of
Education know it will proceed with the program, including bringing
the dog into the building, as of June 1.

If the department prevents the school from bringing the dog into the
building, the program will move ahead, with Green still doing his work
until the issue is resolved.

Green said he would like to see all those involved in the human rights
complaint sit down and work out a solution that would accommodate the
student while allowing the dog into the school.

Green's was one of a dozen resumes that came into the school for the
job.

Because he designed the original program, he knows the process
involved. It's also an "adventure" to go places and create programs
that people have been fighting for, he said.

To not want to be part of the beginning of a program in Whitehorse
would be silly, he said.

Huff pointed to Green's experience in creating the program as well as
his training and experience as a dog handler, in the school's decision
to hire him.

Both suggested they would like Green's Labrador dog Ebony, who came to
Whitehorse with Green last November, to be the dog that goes to Porter
Creek Secondary School with Green.

From the time Ebony was eight weeks old, she was trained and spends
her days in schools.

"She's understands schools and kids," Green said.

Over and over again, Green reiterated Ebony's role as not being in the
school to sniff out lockers and find drugs, but rather as more of a
mingler, helping Green to educate students about drugs and other
issues they're dealing with.

"The dog's a small component (of the program)," he
said.

Never has Green used his dog to search a locker at the schools where
he's worked, he said. That's because the program created an
environment of trust, he said.

By the time the three-year pilot ends at Porter Creek Secondary, Green
wants to see the results of a drug survey done last year at the school
in 2005 turned around.

It found that of the 450 students who completed the survey, 46.9 per
cent of students had tried or used cannabis, with 79 per cent of those
students having been stoned in class.

Another 70 per cent of those surveyed had at least one drink of
alcohol, with 27 per cent of those saying they have been under the
influence of alcohol in class once or more.

The survey also found alcohol, pot and tobacco are among the most
commonly-used substances by students.

It's time to take a different approach to drugs, Green stated, noting
that students need to know the choices they make have consequences and
be educated to what those ramifications could be.

He compared the situation to a stop sign. If drivers choose to go
through the stop sign, they may end up getting a ticket or finding
themselves in an accident.

The situation at Porter Creek Secondary will be similar, he
said.

When a student is caught with drugs at school, there's no real upside
to it, he said, pointing out the student may get in trouble with his
or her parents or teachers, be suspended and be labelled.

That could see the students ask themselves whether getting high for a
couple of hours was worth it for the consequences involved.

Green also took issue with the "war on drugs", arguing the war is over
and drugs have won.

Rather than coming out with the simple "Say no to drugs message",
Green emphasized the importance of education and questioned what
happens to the person who didn't say no to drugs.

By providing education and focusing on prevention, Green pointed out
someone who didn't say no to drugs on Monday may realize they have a
choice and will say no to drugs on Tuesday, for example.

Green noted his vocabulary includes words like "prevention, mentoring,
making choices and changing behaviour", among others. Likewise, words
like "enforcement" are generally kept out of his word use at work, he
said.

It's not only drug prevention Green will focus on. Both he and Huff
noted before Green arrives, preparations will be done for a broader
focus in Green's work.

Among those other issues, Green pointed to Internet safety and
self-esteem as matters students are dealing with that he'd like to
work on as well.

The Internet is now used by teenagers as a place for social
networking, reading and even bullying.

"It's an easy place (for bullying)," he said, pointing to the
anonymity of it.

Although the school year will be wrapping up in June, Green noted his
presence for the final month of the school year will help students
prepare for him to be there when the next semester starts in September.