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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Fettes Rules Out Random Drug Testing
Annette McCann The Herald
Wednesday 06 Feb 2002 ONE of Scotland's most famous private schools yesterday ruled out random drug testing after it emerged that three pupils had been expelled following evidence of substance abuse. Fettes College in Edinburgh, Tony Blair's former school, will not be adopting a policy flagged up by Edinburgh Academy, another of the city's top fee-paying schools, where parents are to be charged 50 for drug tests. Yesterday, details of the three sixth-formers involved in the incident were not being released by the school. However, it is thought that one of the boys, who failed a test for drugs on an overseas trip, is the son of a QC. The boys, two aged 17 and one aged 16, were asked to leave the college after two separate incidents involving drugs. A spokesman for the school confirmed reports that two teenagers had been found with cannabis at a sixth-form party at the school on Saturday and that another, aged 17, had failed a drugs test following a business studies trip to Belgium last week. He said: "The policy at Edinburgh Academy is obviously not the policy at Fettes. If there is a suspicion that a pupil has used drugs then the school would seek parental consent before any test was carried out. "We are not considering, however, random drugs testing like Edinburgh Academy. Our policy is carried out on a case-by-case basis and they are no plans for blanket testing at the school." Michael Spens, the headteacher at the school which commands fees of up to 17,000 a year for full boarders, yesterday refused to expand on comments he made in a newspaper. He was reported as saying: "These pupils have been very foolish and they have been punished. For them it is a personal tragedy. "The school line is very clear and one which all parents and pupils understand. "Possession of drugs of any sort is expressly forbidden." A spokesman for Lothian and Borders police said: "The school has not contacted us regarding the incidents and drugs allegations. To date, there is no police involvement."
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