OUTRAGEOUS STATEMENTS

I am writing this letter from inside Kelvin High School. Just outside
the bathroom, in fact. As I write this, I see, hear, smell no
evidence of cocaine, I have no dirty, scary drug dealers "pushing"
cocaine or any other drug on me. I am a student in Grade 11, have
attended Kelvin for three years, and as of this year, have not
witnessed a single drug deal in the bathroom, the halls, or anywhere
in Kelvin. While I know it happens, and I've heard friends and
acquaintances talk about it, it is both outlandish and ignorant to
assert that drugs will be forced on you in the bathrooms at Kelvin,
as Coun. Jenny Gerbasi so profoundly stated. A little more than
secondhand knowledge and a little less bias is required before making
outrageous statements such as Gerbasi made.

While drugs in school are a problem, it comes nowhere near the
magnitude of the common perception (as represented by Gerbasi) and
the true issue is in educating our citizens on making appropriate
choices, from drugs to life in general. That is where the change must
be made, not in policing.

Drugs are optional -- no one will be able to "push" them on you if
you know what you don't want.

Jake Marks, Jr.

Winnipeg