PRINCIPAL URGES ACTION OVER TEEN CANNABIS

The principal of Napier Boys’ High School has called for the wider community to take a grip of teenage cannabis problems following the arrest of a man and his son over an alleged cannabis-dealing operation among pupils.

Ross Brown made the call yesterday after revealing his was the school where a 16-year-old boy is alleged to have dealt cannabis with fellow pupils.”Young people cannot afford to be involved in marijuana,” Mr Brown said.

“Schools have them just five hours a day, but people know there are people using marijuana in our community and must side-up alongside schools and police to get rid of this problem.”The school management has always had a strong stance on issues of drug use and this has not changed.”As community leaders we must play a responsible role in protecting our young people and our response to this incident simply illustrates our preparedness to do just that.”

Management at the school last week became aware of cannabis use among some pupils outside school hours and alerted police with information from “the wider school community”.

A search of a Napier South property on Wednesday uncovered cannabis and cash allegedly linked to the supply to the students.

A 45-year-old beneficiary is to appear in the Napier District Court next Wednesday facing indictable charges of possessing cannabis for supply, cultivating cannabis and being a party to the sale of cannabis to people under the age of 18. His 16-year-old son, a pupil at the school and who had $1180 when his home was searched – is being referred initially to Police Youth Services with decisions pending on whether he will face the charges in the Youth Court.

Mr Brown called on the community to help stamp-out the use of cannabis and other illicit drugs by young people.”Cannabis has a seriously debilitating effect on their learning,” he said.

“The wider community must take clear steps to demonstrate that its use is unacceptable. Our young people are our future, and we must all act with courage to ensure that they have every opportunity to live and learn without the presence of such negative factors.”

He said the school would continue to be ensure young people in Napier are safe and secure, and had every opportunity to succeed.”The community generally has to work alongside schools and police, and anyone dealing with teenagers has got an issue with marijuana,” he said.

Sat, 02 Sep 2006
Source: Hawke’s Bay Today (New Zealand)
Copyright: 2006
Contact: http://www.hbtoday.co.nz/info/letters/
Website: http://hbtoday.co.nz/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2947
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n1163.a05.html

How can this man honestly believe in a system that has failed to deliver any of the outcomes he so desires. Zero tolerance interventions are the logical equivalent of inoculation therapy on kids without testing the antigen. We may as well randomly expel kids using Lotto, it makes as much sense as exclusionary and coercive interventions.

The antidrug antidote with the highest efficacy is and will always be, informed consent.

It’s the low maintenance conservative policy, the evidence base for cannabis law reform has been proven to be largely exonerative despite a legacy of propaganda demonising the weed.

It follows that there are legislative implications that acknowledge the law is a blunt instrument.

From The British Medical Journal;

“In three years’ of experience of school health provision for alcohol and drug problems and their related referral networks, I do not know of one school that could satisfy these criteria, especially the underpinning policy of promoting informed choice for children and families,”

Woody Caan, Professor of Public Health,

Department of Public and Family Health,

Anglia Polytechnic University,

Chelmsford, Essex, UK

Time to Talk

Blair Anderson
http://mildgreens.com

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