DRUG TESTING IN SCHOOLS ENCOURAGED

Testing for cannabis use in Queensland secondary schools could soon
become a reality, Coast MP Peter Wellington said.

The Nicklin independent MP said all 89 state MPs supported his
parliamentary motion to refer Drug Free Australia's report,
Cannabis: suicide, schizophrenia and other ill-effects research
paper, for investigation.

Mr Wellington said the report showed "irrefutable" evidence there
was a connection for many people between cannabis/marijuana use and
mental illness.

"The report has frightening revelations, and mental illness is a
tsunami about to erupt," he said.

"The first issue it raises is: does the community believe there is
that connection; and if so what are we going to do about it?"

Mr Wellington said the report's many recommendations include "that
drug testing in schools be encouraged, giving a clear message that
drug use including cannabis, is not permitted. Many youngsters do
not see cannabis as a drug or that it will harm them," it states.

Mr Wellington said media reports suggesting drug-testing of
six-year-olds at schools were incorrect and sensationalist.

An outcry from civil libertarians was inevitable.

"But remember when we brought in random breath-testing -- there was
an outcry about people's freedoms then," he said.

The push has angered Queensland Council of P & C president Margaret
Black, who said while the association agreed with nearly all the
report's recommendations, testing at schools was not on.

"The (report's) recommendations do align with our policies on drugs
in schools -- except for number nine," Ms Black said.

"It appears to be focussed on the students in the schools -- but
what about the whole school community?

Large-scale drug-testing is also expensive "and this expense should
be used to target the drug traffickers", she said.

Ms Black said random breath testing was not comparable to student
drug-testing.

"This is a condition of one's driver's licence, which is held on the
condition you do not drink and drive," she said.

"We believe energy and effort should be put into education and
prevention and targeting the traffickers."

But Mr Wellington said he was determined to push the issue.

"What concerns me is that so many people in our community seem to
have the view that marijuana use is not a problem," he said.

"They view it as a recreational drug which is not a problem and that
everyone does it."

Report recommendations

1. Preventative drug education in both primary and secondary
schools, including new research into the harmful effects of cannabis
on the developing brain, suicide, drug-induced psychosis,
schizophrenia and depression.

2. National media, similar to the "Bloody Idiot" alcohol campaign.

3. Clear cannabis prevention policies in all schools.

4. Police implement drug blitzes, target users, plantation and
hydroponically grown cannabis, trafficking, financing, and/or
selling drugs to children.

5. All professionals in drug and alcohol fields to strongly
discourage any cannabis use by those whom they counsel or to whom
they provide treatment for drug related problems.

6. QUIT campaign.

7. Greater penalties to prosecute suppliers and traffickers of drugs
to children.

8. Clear messages about the effects of cannabis on the young body
from the Commonwealth.

9. Address the abuse of illicit substances in Aboriginal
communities, in particular cannabis.

10. Drug testing in schools be encouraged.

11. Roadside testing.