Education Act becomes law. It was probably to be expected that Government would want such powers since it seems to be going ahead with the mega school at Prospect. One of the major public concerns about the school has been the real possibility that it will turn out to be a breeding place for drug abuse.

It may be that Government has also come to believe that testing at such private schools as Saltus Grammar has been a success and that some students may want their children in a controlled environment.

We think that, in their usual way, parents are rather quiet about the plan now but will begin to show alarm when it becomes a reality. Recent events in some schools indicate to us that the Ministry of Education does not have good control in the public schools and may have a hard time convincing some parents of the need for drug testing.

It is all very well to say that private schools expel students who refuse the test. Government has a duty to educate students to school leaving age and cannot just throw them out of school. If they relegate people who test positive for drugs to the new "troublemakers school'' the problems will be the same except that they will be magnified by the troublesome students being together in one place.

The Ministry of Education does not have a good record of problem solving. Nor does it have the confidence of the general public. However it must learn that problems have causes and that treating symptoms is only a band-aid approach.

We do not disagree with testing for drugs in the schools. A stoned student is not going to learn. However we have serious concerns about what will happen to those students who test positive in the public school system. Today drugs, especially marijuana, have become part of the coming of age process. There are many successful and highly competent people in this society and other societies who, at one time or another, have used drugs.

Our concern is that the testing will brand students as "junkies'', stigmatise them in a small Country and jeopardise their chances of travel. If it does that, it will do more harm than good.

So far there are no details of what the act will include. However it will have to provide comprehensive help for those students who test positive for drugs.

If the Ministry simply tests students, finds them positive and relegates them to some kind of punishment then the system has no redeeming feature.

We note that the Minister of Education hopes that schools drug testing will not become a political issue. That is unlikely given the fact that the Progressive Labour Party has a long history of being unwilling to co-operate on drugs.