Pubdate: Mon, 22 Nov 2004 Source: Edmonton Sun (CN AB) Copyright: 2004, Canoe Limited Partnership. Contact: http://www.canoe.com/NewsStand/EdmontonSun/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/135 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) DRUG DOGS FOR SCHOOLS ABBOTSFORD, B.C. -- A school board in B.C.'s Fraser Valley will likely approve a controversial draft drug policy today to bring drug dogs into schools despite outrage by the B.C. Civil Liberties Association. Abbotsford trustee and policy committee chairman Don Szostak said the board has studied the policy carefully and will likely approve it in principle today. "The plan is to vote to approve it in principle and then go out for stakeholder input," Szostak said yesterday. Usually, stakeholder input is sought before a policy is approved in principle, but Szostak said board members wanted to get moving. "We've spent a long time working on this policy," he said, adding the board could still rescind it after the input period ends in January. B.C. Civil Liberties Association executive director Murray Molland has raised concerns about the impact on students if dogs give a false positive alert when sniffing a locker. That happens in 20 per cent of cases, he said. "The school board is embarking on a disastrous path that will certainly lead to false accusations and wrongly stigmatize students as drug users," Molland said. But Szostak said the district has addressed that by inserting a provision to bar students from hallways when dogs conduct tests and ensure locker searches are done after hours. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek