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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

drug search at school

394 replies

hahaRainbow · 13/02/2015 17:43

Is this legal? my ds has come home from school (state comp) where (he says) during a science class, a teacher arrived announcing that 'this is a drug free school and now we are going to have the sniffer dogs in'.

Apparently the kids were then lined up while a dog ran up and down sniffing them and another dog sniffed the classroom.

of course I'm not happy about drugs at school but I do wonder about the legalities of this and what IF a kid had been caught.... am I wrong to be worried?

OP posts:
TalkinPeace · 14/02/2015 11:59

OP has vanished .....

DDs college has the drugs dogs in at least once a term.
Perfectly sensible IMHO

If kids are too thick / arrogant to remember to leave stuff at home, they deserve whatever sanctions come their way.

SoupDragon · 14/02/2015 12:04

If kids are too thick / arrogant to remember to leave stuff at home, they deserve whatever sanctions come their way.

Absolutely.

SoupDragon · 14/02/2015 12:06

This is a test to see if pupils have drugs on school premises.
It isn't a blood/hair/urine test to see if they have used drugs.

PilchardPrincess · 14/02/2015 12:12

I'm more concerned about the impact on the other children of being lined up and scrutinised in this manner.

The ramifications will likely be beyond the intended ones, but I guess people are happy with that as some form of collateral damage.

bigjimsdiamondmine · 14/02/2015 12:14

Its the whole of society who looses because of poor drugs policy talkin, not just those who are 'stupid enough' to have drugs on them in college.

TalkinPeace · 14/02/2015 12:19

bigjims
You are over reacting.

All the college does is make it clear that carrying drugs during the school day is pretty darned stupid and has repercussions.

What the kids get up to at the weekend and holidays is not the College's affair - unless it impacts on their performance.

Its the same in any workplace.

pilchard
You notice that OP did not come back.
When the dogs go round DDs college, the biggest problem is that people try to take selfies with them.
Its not intimidating or anything like that
because to be caught in college with drugs implies a level of daftness that is not cool

FWIW the dogs went into the school when she was there - following a complaint - and people were expelled
THe feedback was that it was quite exciting and amusing for all those who knew they were not carrying.

EveDallas · 14/02/2015 12:20

No it isn't. The less people in society that take illegal drugs the better. Society wins if these people are weeded out.

TalkinPeace · 14/02/2015 12:23

Eve
I'm afraid my view on which drugs are legal and illegal is rather different.

Tobacco would NEVER be allowed were it introduced to society today.
Nor would alcohol.

Those two do infinitely more harm than the illegal drugs combined.
And the biggest harm from the illegal drugs is the crime angle.

Re legalising most drugs (which have only been illegal since the 1960's anyway) would reduce world crime, reduce money laundering, reduce people traficking, bring LOTS of money back into the tax net

and allow users of all substances to be supported in a legal manner.

PilchardPrincess · 14/02/2015 12:24

Dogs going around is one thing.

Lining people up and scrutinising them, is quite different. That's the bit I have a real problem with.

They have dogs at my workplace. That's fine. If they came and said right you you and you line up for searching that's not fine. The whole idea of lining people up and then if they are pointed out in some way taking them away just like I say produces a really visceral reaction in me. It's got just awful overtones. I don't think it is in the interests of anyone to be doing this in schools.

Mrsjayy · 14/02/2015 12:25

I wasn't aiming my weed comment at anybody in particular just pointing out that using weed isn't harmless as some people assume and if kids are dealing then they are jeopardising their education anyway and if they are smoking same rules apply .

.

Mrsjayy · 14/02/2015 12:28

Drug addicts are treated in a legal manner I personally know addicts they haven't been to prison for using

Callooh · 14/02/2015 12:30

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

SuburbanRhonda · 14/02/2015 12:32

Bringing us back to the smaller picture, which is what the OP was about, while it is school's job to be mindful of every child's needs, I would be very unhappy about my DC's school relaxing its zero tolerance policy on drugs in school in order not to adversely affect the education of a student who had chosen to bring drugs into school.

Original poster
hahaRainbow · 14/02/2015 12:33

I've been really grateful and interested in these many responses to my initial post.. all v thought provoking.... & I do want to write a longer response .... am right now tied up with kids.. apologies for this & will post later...

OP posts:
SoupDragon · 14/02/2015 12:33

Lining people up and scrutinising them, is quite different. That's the bit I have a real problem with.

Well! it's only the child's view of what happened so i imagine the "lining up" is somewhat less dramatic than it sounds.

I bet they weren't scrutinised. These dogs are very very clever, they don't need to have more than a single sniff. If there is no scent there, they simply move on. Bearing in mind I am basing my experience on watching the documentary "Send in The Dogs" where they did random drugs sniffing at tube stations :o that and having been "scrutinised" by sniffer dogs at various airports.

PilchardPrincess · 14/02/2015 12:36

What of the impact on those who have not done anything wrong?

Like I say is collateral damage acceptable?

People really think it's reasonable in schools for children to be interrupted in what they are doing and have to line up to be scrutinised by the authorities with children occasionally pulled and marched off?

The whole thing makes me feel quite ill to think about. And will be wildly inappropriate in some schools / areas in terms of the experiences of the children they are doing this to.

Lining people up for scrutiny when there is no indication they have done anything wrong is the sort of thing associated with totalitarian regimes not safe school environments.

EveDallas · 14/02/2015 12:36

Whilst I understand what you are saying Talkin, my view is that one cigarette is not likely to kill you, whereas one 'experience' with E, GHB, Ketamine, Heroin etc can. One Vodka won't kill you, one tab can. A shopkeeper won't shoot you for buying 20 B&H, a dealer might.

So whilst, in theory, you may be correct, in reality there would be far more deaths first.

Pilchard, in my DDs school they line up before they enter school, they line up before they enter class and they line up before they go to lunch. A dog running alongside those line is hardly going to terrorise or stigmatise them

PilchardPrincess · 14/02/2015 12:38

Like I say for me having a dog around the place is no problem.

It's the lining up and then being scrutinised by the authorities thing. Children who have nothing to hide will still be scared. Most people get scared in this situation especially in situations where they have no power or control and potentially don't really understand what's going on.

If the police turned up in our workplace tomorrow and said right everybody up line up against the wall we are going to be checking you, everybody's heart rates would go up I'm sure.

PilchardPrincess · 14/02/2015 12:41

Eve in the OP they came into the classroom and got them to stop their lesson and form a line so they could be checked.

Gives me the heebyjeebies.

For children who have experience of other less kindly regimes this could be terrifying.
For children who live in areas where the police are excessive with stop and search this will remove school as a place removed from all that and may increase antipathy towards "authority"
Some children will just brick it anyway it's a scary thing.

Really don't like it.

SuburbanRhonda · 14/02/2015 12:42

Pilchard, have you read other posters' experiences of the sniffer dogs coming in their DCs' schools?

Do you think it's better to have a student selling drugs on the school site - maybe to your DCs - rather than have the sniffer dogs in?

If so, how would you propose the school tackles the problems of drug-dealing in schools on a practical level?

TalkinPeace · 14/02/2015 12:42

pilchard
OP will be able to elaborate later but when the dogs were at DCs school, they sweep a room in less than two minutes and whoosh onwards.
You are massively over thinking it.

Eve
I was in Seattle this summer. I could see the impact of legalising cannabis without any decent mental health services or support networks for users.
BUT
If the drugs are legal, and gun controls are as sensible as they are in other than the US,
popping to the corner shop to buy whatever takes your fancy for Saturday night is not a big thing.

If the drugs are legal, they come under trading standards and environmental health - its the impurities that are the most dangerous part of most pills.

OddBoots · 14/02/2015 12:44

What kind of impact are you thinking of PilchardPrincess? How is it much different to the lining up for uniform checks that happen in many schools routinely and have done for decades.

There are many studies that show that an authoritative parenting style (as opposed to a permissive or authoritarian) is a factor in protecting children from substance abuse (example), it's not a huge leap to think that this could also apply when a school is in loco parentis. In order to be authoritative not authoritarian the school need to be clear and consistent in maintaining high standards, they must explain why they are doing as they are doing and the expectations of behaviour should be established before any monitoring takes place. We don't know in the OP's case if there has been any kind of lead up to the visit, if the children have before starting the school and as part of the pastoral care been made aware of the expectations of them.

EveDallas · 14/02/2015 12:48

Again, I do understand your argument Talkin, but I think my own experience colours my view and makes me disagree - the heroin that killed my brother was 'too pure', ironically if it had been cut he probably would have survived.

PilchardPrincess · 14/02/2015 12:50

I guess because if your uniform isn't right you aren't removed by the police there and then, pulled out of the line, and not seen back in the classroom again?

Really gives me the shivers.

PilchardPrincess · 14/02/2015 12:51

Oh and the impact I was talking about upthread I've mentioned quite a lot of situations where bringing the authorities into schools in this manner could be extremely counter-productive both for the children and maybe the wider community as well.