Primary students banned for drug use

[boulder]

SEVERAL students have been suspended from a suburban Adelaide primary school for possessing cannabis.

 

Colonel Light Gardens Primary School yesterday confirmed a group of students ? believed to be three ? had been banned for taking the drug to school.

 

It is understood the older students had smoked cannabis in a park near the school outside school hours.

 

However, other students at the school allegedly told the Education Department the offending students had offered them the drug.

 

A department spokesman said it was department policy not to disclose details of the students involved.

 

It is unclear whether the students are now back in class.

 

Principal Raelene Taggart said the incident was brought to her attention by a parent three weeks after it took place.

 

She said parents were notified by letter of the incident and the subsequent suspension of the students.

 

Police officers were called to the school to speak to students about the dangers of drugs.

 

"The overriding priority of public schools is to ensure the safety and well-being of all students," the Education Department spokesman said.

 

"This strategy has been developed using research findings, evaluations and models developed in other states and countries and builds on existing work carried out within the department."

 

Revelations of the Colonel Light Gardens Primary School incident came as the Howard Government's parliamentary health secretary, Trish Worth, said GPs had a responsibility to warn young patients about the link between mental illness and marijuana.

 

A committee of health experts set up by Ms Worth heard three in every four Australians admitted to psychiatric care had addiction issues.

 

For many, cannabis abuse had triggered mental illness or was exacerbating depression among users who smoked the drug to feel "normal".

 

"For too long cannabis has been considered a soft drug," Ms Worth said.

 

"Cannabis can cause panic or anxiety attacks, it can trigger mental illness for those with a predisposition, it can trigger psychotic reactions."

 

National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre spokesman Paul Dillon said the latest research suggested one in 10 people who used cannabis were going to develop problems.

 

 

 

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