Pubdate: Sun, 12 Mar 2006
Source: Sunday Times (Australia)
Copyright: 2006 Times Newspapers Ltd
Contact: http://www.sundaytimes.news.com.au/letters/letters.html
Website: http://www.sundaytimes.news.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/438
Author: Paul Lampathakis

BONGS IN SHOW AND TELL

CHILDREN as young as 10 will be shown bongs at school  as part of a
push to educate them about drugs.

The drug and alcohol teaching resources, which will be  launched in WA
schools in July for Years 4 to 7, will  focus on the dangers of
cannabis. Previous programs  have only touched on the subject.

Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich has given the  project the
thumbs-up.

"I don't think it would be unusual for 10 and  11-year-olds to be
asking their mother and father what  is marijuana or (to have) heard
it mentioned within a  context by another child," she said.

"But, of course, the issue is making sure that students  get the right
message and the message is that no drugs  are good for you."

School Drug Education and Road Aware project officer  Kim Chute said
there had been a push for more drug  education because research showed
that children were  being exposed to cannabis earlier than people thought.

"That part of it will be for Year 6 and 7 and they will  be taught
more facts about things like the short and  long-term effects of
cannabis, and the illegality of  it," Ms Chute said.

"(We will get) police in as guest speakers and they  might bring in
little kits that have the cannabis and  the bongs, and that sort of
stuff, just demystifying  cannabis for the kids.

"They will be told this (bong) is the apparatus that  some people use,
but it's illegal and everything to do  with cannabis is still illegal,
and about the effects.  Basically it is not a 'Just say no' approach,
it's  'Let's talk about it, let's see what it does'.

"And let's talk about some scenarios where you could be  exposed to
those things and how you could be exposed."

There would a big focus on developing decision-making  skills which
children could use to resist pressures to  use cannabis, alcohol and
cigarettes, or even to help  them behave safely on the road.

Alcohol would be dealt with in the program at Years 4  and 5. Students
would learn in high school about other  illicit drugs. On Friday,
another new resource pack, to  help teachers of kindergarten to Year 3
students teach  awareness of legal drugs and road safety, was launched
  at Ardross Primary School.

Key areas of the program include medicines, hazardous  substances,
tobacco, passive smoking, caffeine and  promoting reasoning, and
decision-making ability in  children. 
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