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News Release 23rd February 2004CAN STAFFORDSHIRE SCHOOLS AFFORD DRUGS TESTS?Michael Fabricant has questioned the practicality of the Government's announcement to allow headteachers to carry out drug searches in schools. "I welcome the Government's intentions regarding the need to tackle drug-taking amongst school students, but these proposals are not new and are impractical. Staffordshire schools are particularly badly funded compared with other parts of the country. While I recognise that there is a drugs problem with 1 in 3 teenagers having smoked cannabis and 1 in 10 having tried ecstasy nationally - we do not know the figures for individual counties - I do question whether the Government have thought this one through. Firstly, head teachers already have the powers to carry out random tests, but there are no reported cases of state schools doing so. And secondly, each urine test will cost £9 and there may also be a charge for the use of sniffer dogs. Do Staffordshire and other midlands schools have the resources for this? Besides, drugs are often sold outside the school gates where the head teacher has no powers. "The irony is that, nationally, schools with the biggest drugs problems are often in inner city areas and are the least well resourced. This proposal only becomes practical and a new initiative rather than a gimmick by simply re-announcing existing powers already available to schools, if extra financial resources are made available to head teachers to enable them to carry out the battle against drugs. In the meantime, we also need extra police resources to stop drugs being sold in the vicinity of schools." |
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