Pubdate: Sun, 03 Jul 2005
Source: Abbotsford Times (CN BC)
Copyright: 2005 The Abbotsford Times
Contact:  http://www.abbotsfordtimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1009

SOMETIMES, KIDS ARE INNOCENT BYSTANDERS

THE EDITOR:

Re: 'Board wants to start squirting students,' Times, June 24.

I grew up with parents who smoked a lot of pot every day. We usually had a 
grow-op somewhere in our home or outside in the yard. As young as five 
years old my job was to help pick the seeds out of the pot after it had 
been harvested and dried before packaging them into their "baggies" to be sold.

I was very embarrassed of my home life and obviously never told anyone. 
Thank goodness we never had any drug-sniffing dogs or drug-detecting sprays 
when I was in high school in the '80s.

I can proudly say that I never touched drugs or alcohol as a kid or an 
adult and today am a successful mother and business owner. This is a choice 
I made for myself. What about the choice of those kids right now who are 
attending high school in Abbotsford, living in a home similar to what I 
grew up in, scared to death that these drug dogs or detecting spray could 
possibly be introduced into their school?

What is going to happen to them when they are "caught," completely innocent 
of any wrongdoing and have to explain?

As a teenager, I had no control over what my parents did. My heart breaks 
for those kids who are keeping the same secret I had to. I am worried for 
them. It is tough enough being a kid as it is, why add this to their worries?

[Name withheld by editor]
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom