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UK: School pupils told to pay 50 pounds for drugs test
Helen Puttick, Education Reporter Edinburgh Evening News
Wednesday 30 Jan 2002 DOPE-SMOKING pupils at a top Edinburgh private school have been told to pay 50 pounds for random drug tests. A number of 14-year-old students at Edinburgh Academy confessed to using cannabis during a school inquiry. Now headmaster John Light has written to their parents saying the teenagers can only continue their studies at the 7000 pounds-a-year establishment if they agree to take random drug tests. He has asked their parents to cover the 50 pounds cost - suggesting the pupils could repay them from their own pocket money. And Mr Light warned if the results of the drugs tests were positive, the teenagers would be expelled. His tough stance came just weeks after it emerged Prince Harry was facing similar tests at Eton following revelations that he had smoked cannabis. It is understood a small number of Edinburgh Academy pupils were found to have been using cannabis after a drugs probe at another city private school. They admitted using cannabis during holidays and weekends over the last six months. Mr Light said: "Information was passed on to us and we acted on it. It is our duty to keep drugs out of school and to protect the pupils. "As we have seen, drugs can affect any family and any school in the country. "You can't keep drugs out simply by putting up school railings." The letter, a copy of which was leaked with the name of the pupil concerned blacked out, sent from Mr Light to the parents of the children concerned carefully explains the policy of the Henderson Row school on drugs. In it he says: "I am writing following the investigations this week from which it emerged that X has been involved in the use of cannabis in the past months. "You may have received a copy of a letter sent to all fourth-year parents in which I outlined in general terms the action the school has taken. "I must now write specifically to you to make the school's position quite clear. "We are totally against the use of drugs... because they are illegal. "Apart from the potential physical harm, we deplore the furtive practices which accompany such habits. Young men who spend time secreted in basements and in back alleys become introverted and contemptuous. In addition they are conspicuous targets for serious pushers and dealers." He continues to explain that the child concerned had admitted being "involved in illegal activity outwith school time." He says: "We will not permit that habit to be imported into the academy, for it puts younger pupils particularly at risk. "X will be permitted to continue his studies only if he consents to a programme of random drug testing and I look forward to your confirmation you and X agree to such a programme by giving your signatures below and returning a copy to me." The 50 pounds fee, he says, is intended to cover the cost of hiring a nurse to administer the test and he adds that he hopes that the pupil will refund the money "out of any future allowances or pocket money". The way Mr Light has handled the matter was praised by Alastair Ramsay, director of campaign group Scotland Against Drugs. He said: "If drugs are in a child's life, the school should be supportive, rather than literally kicking them out. "The most important thing is that each case is treated sensitively and on its individual merits." Only one pupil has been expelled from Edinburgh Academy during Mr Light's seven-year reign as headmaster.
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