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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Academic rubbishes random school drug testing
Reuters
Friday 12 Mar 2004 LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Tony Blair's plans for random drug tests in schools will not work, a public health expert says. Professor Woody Caan, of the Anglia Polytechnic University in Essex, said schools will not be able to meet the criteria issued by the Department of Health to set up the programme. Caan said there should be an agreed policy on further diagnostic procedures and choices available if someone tests positive. Effective treatments should also be identified. "In three years of experience of school health provision for alcohol and drugs problems and their related referral networks, I do not know of one school that could satisfy these criteria," he said in a letter to The British Medical Journal on Friday. Blair announced plans for random drug tests in a newspaper interview last month and said teachers would be issued guidelines. He admitted that the government could not force teachers to conduct the tests but said random testing should be available if there is a problem in the school. The government relaxed its laws against cannabis last month, downgrading the drug to a "lower risk" Class C -- the same as tranquillisers and anabolic steroids -- meaning possession of a small amount will not necessarily lead to an arrest or fine. But penalties for dealing and supplying the drug were toughened to a maximum 14 years in prison. The government said it wanted to focus its limited resources on suppliers. Critics of the government's drugs policy said it is muddled and conveys the message that using cannabis is not a serious offence.
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