Weeding out drug offenders

THE Southport School must be commended for its radical and courageous decision to randomly drug test students.

Maybe they could have gone further, broadening the testing regime beyond marijuana to other illicit substances.

Naturally, civil libertarians are upset. But this is a well thought-out policy aimed at giving students a second chance at the school.

Under the current zero-tolerance stance, a student caught with marijuana is expelled immediately.

Under the new proposal, that student would be counselled by the headmaster in front of his parents and a lifeline extended.

As long as the pupil doesn’t reoffend, he can move on with his life, having learnt from the experience.

The plan has the full support of the parents’ representative body and it follows an incident in 2010 when two boys were caught with marijuana while on exchange in Scotland.

TSS has taken a risk by introducing this policy. Some will speculate that the school must have a bad drug problem to be going this far.

But that is a simplistic and naive view. Recreational drugs such as marijuana are available and kids in their teens are much more likely to exercise poor judgment, especially with peer group pressure, than they would later in life.

This policy affords them a second chance. It should be seen as a charitable and compassionate gesture by the school to look after its students.