Government needs to admit there is a drugs problem in schools before anything really can be done about it, a juvenile court judge has said.

Magistrate Carlisle Greaves was speaking after he read a social inquiry report on a 14-year-old boy which said he had once been suspended from school for taking part in a drugs transaction.

"Things have changed since I was at school,'' Mr. Greaves told his juvenile court panel just before he sentenced the youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons, to 18 months of probation for stealing.

Earlier last month, the boy, along with an accomplice, plead guilty to taking a purse containing $80 from a secretary at the Physical Abuse Centre on April 19.

The other boy, 15, was sent back to Observatory Cottage, a juvenile home, while a social inquiry report was ordered for the 14-year-old.

Mr. Greaves displayed astonishment as he read the report, which was prepared by probation officers.

"There's some interesting things going on in school yards these days,'' he said. "When I was at school we used to trade cards. Now look what they're doing.

"Perhaps we need to consider some serious interdiction.'' Mr. Greaves suggested that surveillance cameras be put up in schools and that sniffer dogs and electronic scanners be used to stop drugs from making their way into the playground.

Police Prosecutor Insp. Peter Giles said: "Perhaps we could consider that but it's really up to the Education Department.'' Mr. Greaves said: "They need to admit there's a drug problem in schools before anything can be done about it.'' He said he thought the case was "not an isolated incident'' and asked why the parents and families were not called in to work through problems such as this when they arose in schools.

"Pretty soon we're going to have everyone walking around with funny expressions on their faces,'' he joked.

In passing sentence on the boy, Mr. Greaves said: "You're not big but you're trying to do big things.

"You can't break into houses and steal. And did you know that the use of marijuana is against the law? It could eventually put you into jail.'' Panelist Austin Thomas asked the youth if he had taken drugs awareness courses at school.

His affirmative reply was met with: "Then why didn't you pay attention to them? No one comes out of school ignorant of the effects of drugs.'' Mr. Greaves told the boy to "act like a child for the time being so you can grow up into a man, not a zombie''.

"You have to follow the rules or you'll end up with a stiff penalty,'' he said.

DRUGS DGS