Pubdate: Wed, 23 Oct 2013
Source: Vancouver Courier (CN BC)
Copyright: 2013 Vancouver Courier
Contact:  http://www.vancourier.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/474
Author: Judith Renaud

ASSISTANCE, NOT PUNISHMENT, BEST FOR TEEN POT USERS

To the editor:

Re: "It's time to really talk about pot, say educators," Oct. 16.

I appreciated reading Fiona Hughes' column. As a drug policy reform
researcher and the director of Educators for Sensible Drug Policy
along with Dr. Rodney Skager, we have proposed fundamental changes in
drug prevention education for the past decade in Canada and the U.S.

First and foremost most drug education should be moved up into
secondary schools.

Currently there is very little drug education for teenagers and what
there is merely repeats earlier messages that often are no longer
credible to high school students. Continued widespread use by
teenagers of alcohol and other drugs suggests that "inoculating" most
children against experimentation and use later on as teenagers has
failed.

Our public schools whenever possible under the law should emphasize
assistance rather than punishment. Effective assistance strategies
will reduce negative statistics on low achievement, poor attendance
and dropping out of school.

Educators for Sensible Drug Policy (EFSDP) and our respected
consultants have found:

1. Substance use remains common among high school students.

2. The goal of inoculating children against later alcohol and drug
experimentation has been unrealistic.

3. School punishment policies have not deterred widespread use of
alcohol and other drugs among high school students.

4. Youth has a voice and it deserves to be heard.

5. Drug education for teenagers must be genuinely interactive.

6. Student assistance offers an appropriate structure.

Examples of these findings are readily available through EFSDP.
Student assistance programs have proved effective and very successful.
These findings suggest that working with young people to facilitate
self-examination and development for self and others is highly
recommended by educators who want to work with health care
professionals and drug educators in our public schools.

Our goal is to provide ideas over ideology, compassion over coercion
and rehabilitation over punishment.

Judith Renaud, Executive Director Educators for Sensible Drug Policy,
Gibsons, B.C.
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MAP posted-by: Matt