Well I think it all boilds down to if there is really a need to educate kids in Primary school about drugs. Are they in a high risk groups that requires that such education be employed. Many factors make up a high risk group including factors such as location - not only location as far as suburb, but locations within suburbs.
It's a tough call because on one hand education at that age may teach the young person to respect drugs and leave them alone until they are mature enough. On the other hand it may spark curiosity to experiment with these drugs. Knowing this how do you decide what's the right thing to do. Times are certainly changing, back when I was in primary school (shit I sound like my old man) it was all cartoons, sport and collecting Kiss cards hehehhee. Now kids in the Mill Park area are smoking and dealing pot in Primary school - fuck call me old but I almost fell off my chair when I heard this - where has the innocence of young kids gone?
So in this particular primary school that I know of there is definately a need for some action to be taken - what sort of action? Well this is where a school has to be cautious - it's not only a matter of providing the right balance of information - we have to consider and realise we do not live in a perfect world. A school has to also consider the consequences of it's actions - it has to answer to the government and the parents.
Being a parent myself - I certainly would not like my child during his years at primary school being associated with drugs or having any knowledge of them. I guess the tough question for me is if he does become exposed to them in some way, what cousre of action is the right one. As a parent I tend to lean on the scare tatic for kids that young. They are way too young to fully understand nor do they need to know the concepts of responsible drug use. At that innocent time in life let them continue believing drugs are danegrous and only losers touch them - unless circumstances dictate otherwise.
In High School - well this is where drug use for young people becomes very real and shock tatics are increasingly becoming a waste of time in achieving their objectives. I honestly believe that young people need to be treated with respect and not lied to. A good balance of information and harm minimisation is in order. The more you tell someone they shouldn't do it the more the they will - I know it's a generalisation, but in my work in the Youth Work field, a generalisation the rings true all too often. I was oftened spurred on to smoke cigerettes by the fact that my parents told me not to. Young people start a journey of discovery, a journey of who am I, where do I belong and part of the journey is standing on one's own two feet. Young people like to think they are independent and can make their own decisions - so give them this respect and arm them with the right information and the skills to use it.
Again this is the view of a parent
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"Never trust a man who, when left alone in a room with a tea cozy, doesn't try it on" - Billy Connolly