By Gassia Ashikian
Staff Writer
The use of drug dogs on Mira Costa’s campus is an effective tool to lessen the amount of drugs brought onto campus, but it lacks the ability to prevent students from off-campus use.
Two years ago, the Manhattan Beach Unified School District Board of Trustees passed a new policy that allowed officers to use drug dogs to search for illegal substances in classrooms. Under this policy, classrooms, parking lots and lockers are randomly chosen to be searched by the dogs. The company that provides these services for Costa, Interquest Detection Canines, is funded by the Beach Cities Health District. According to PACE teacher Dr. Rocky Wilson, the program has tremendously dropped the rate of substance abuse on campus, which is a welcome change.
Approximately $6,000 a year is put into the IDC program by MBUSD, and some may argue that this is a waste of resources. Considering the drug dog program has produced beneficial on- campus results, this is a wise investment that effectively achieves one of Costa’s top priorities.
According to Costa Security Lead Ray Lee, each year there is a decrease in the number of students who get caught for bringing drugs onto campus. The drug dog program needs to remain in place in order to secure the continued safety of Mira Costa students.
According to Wilson, the threat of drug dogs on campus will bring a fear to the students who casually use illegal substances or to students who are thinking about using illegal drugs, therefore deterring students from using them. The dogs not only have the ability to find drugs on campus but could potentially be influential in students’ future off-campus decision-making.
According to guidance councilor Jenny Woodie, it is very challenging to stop students from taking drugs off-campus. The main purpose of having drug-dogs is to make it a safe place for students at school. After school, teachers and administrators do not have the ability to stop kids from using drugs. However, drug dogs do accomplish their goal of reducing the number of illegal substances used and passed hand-to-hand on campus.
According to Wilson, students who are not carrying illegal drugs with them should not feel violated or feel as if they are suspects if they have nothing to hide. Some students feel that it is necessary for Costa to use these drug dogs because it provides them with a healthy learning environment with a reduced amount of pressure amongst peers.
To supplement the drug dog services, Costa holds educational presentations, and parents can also sign up their kids to be randomly drug tested to lessen the use of drugs off campus. It is a very challenging task to decrease the amount of drugs on campus, but the district is surely decreasing the presence of illegal substances on campus.
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