cannabisnews.com: Becton Teachers To Learn To Spot Drug Users 





Becton Teachers To Learn To Spot Drug Users 
Posted by FoM on December 02, 1999 at 05:38:50 PT
By Lisa Goodnight, Staff Writer
Source: Bergen Record
Teachers at Henry P. Becton Regional High School soon will become pupils themselves: They will get lessons in how to spot drug users. Superintendent Samuel Feldman announced Wednesday night that teachers in the Grade 9 to 12 district will undergo training on how to identify students who use drugs and what they can do to help. 
Depending on the availability of police officers with expertise in juvenile drug use, Feldman said, the half day of training would be this month or in January."It's been a while since we've done the program," Feldman said. "It's always good to have a refresher."The last teacher drug-awareness training sessions were five years ago.Feldman said he is reviving the program in response to a report Wednesday in The Record in which police said students at Becton and Bergen County Technical High School had been buying drugs from a man officers have accused of running one of the biggest drug operations in southern Bergen County.Feldman said he did not know how many Becton students, if any, had been involved with Carlos Cardenas, 19, who was arrested last week and charged with selling drugs to an undercover agent.Cardenas was arrested at his parents' home on Monroe Street on Nov. 24 on drug-distribution charges, including selling cocaine and marijuana. He was also charged with employing a juvenile in a drug-distribution scheme, which carries a potential five- to 10-year prison term."Nobody was absent [Wednesday]. Nobody is in detention," Feldman said. "They may not be any of our kids."A 15-year-old from Carlstadt was arrested Nov. 24 when the Bergen County Prosecutor's narcotics task force concluded its four-month investigation of Cardenas.The 15-year-old boy had been charged last month in East Rutherford with possessing 53 bags of marijuana, police said. It was unclear Wednesday whether the juvenile is a Becton student.Feldman said local police officers will instruct teachers to be on the lookout for the warning signs of drug use. Some signs are obvious, such as drowsiness and profuse sweating."Some of it is common sense," Feldman said.School board President John Ondrof said it is important that teachers recognize the signs. He also contended that none of the alleged drug activity associated with Cardenas took place on school grounds."It wasn't a drug bust. It wasn't a problem here on the site," Ondrof said.The school serves students from East Rutherford and Carlstadt. Both towns have DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) programs, which police officers and educators say are effective."People are still going to make mistakes," said East Rutherford police Capt. Larry Minda, who runs his town's DARE program. "You can give somebody all the information in the world. It comes to a point that you recognize in some cases you're not going to win."Minda also pointed out that the town has not had other problems often associated with growing drug use. For example, he said, East Rutherford has not had a rash of break-ins by drug users desperate for cash.On average, the veteran officer said, East Rutherford averages five to 10 juvenile drug arrests yearly. That number, he said, does not include arrests involving alcohol.Carlstadt police did not immediately return calls Wednesday seeking comment. Earlier this week, Carlstadt Detective John Occhiuzzo III said the arrest of Cardenas will make drugs less accessible and save lives.Carlstadt Mayor William Roseman said the news of the drug arrest and student involvement was disheartening. He said parents need to talk to their children about drugs."I've always been a believer that it starts in the home first," Roseman said.Meanwhile, school officials were disappointed that more positive news about the school stays under the wraps. They pointed out that Becton had the first computer class in Bergen County and offers nearly a dozen advance placement classes, which allow students to earn college credit.Published: December 2, 1999Copyright © 1999 Bergen Record Corp. Cannabis News DARE Related Articles:http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/list/DARE.shtml
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Comment #4 posted by JerseyGuy2001 on February 14, 2001 at 22:16:43 PT
Comment #3
I went to Becton in the 80's.They're waging another losing battle again,like they did in 1985 when the Becton Regional School District proposed testing all students for drugs via urine samples.Well,once the ACLU got whiff of it,they hauled the district into court,claiming the district's proposed policy violated the students constitutional and civil rights.The Bergen County Superior Court judge agreed.In his ruling he wrote:"Defendant's policy is an attempt to control student discipline under the guise of a medical procedure,therefore,circumventing students rights to due process"..The district filed numerous appeals over the years.To no avail,the original ruling continued to be upheld in the appelate court..Search and seizure wouldn't be effective even if the court allowed the district to test every kid..Teens do what they want regardless..Schools will never realize that it's out of their hands.The teens themselves have to be responsible for their choices.. 
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Comment #3 posted by kaptinemo on December 02, 1999 at 18:44:08 PT
They don't wear signs around their necks...
Symptoms of drug use, eh? Looking for drowsiness? Drowsiness can be symptomatic of a great many things... like the awful boredom experienced by any relatively bright student forced to be warehoused in our public schools systems. Yours truly was one such unfortunate, and can recall quite clearly my eagerness to escape such an environment.Sweating? What, you've never been nervous? Never had the problem of not knowing the answer to a teacher's question? Never been terrified of your peers making fun of you if the teacher calls on you and your ignorance is displayed to the whole world?Spotting drug users? You'd have better luck birdwatching.
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on December 02, 1999 at 09:21:53 PT
True Scott!
Good explanation Scott! People think that people that do drugs have that appearance that has been built into our minds and that's just not true. We do have Keith Richards but we also have:11/03/99 Colonel's Wife Trafficked Heroin, Not Cocainehttp://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3536.shtml10/25/99 District Judge Arraigned on Drug Chargeshttp://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3417.shtml
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Comment #1 posted by Scott on December 02, 1999 at 07:56:04 PT:
Let's open the doors for more prejudism
>Wednesday night that teachers in the Grade 9 to 12 >district will undergo training on how to identify students >who use drugs and what they can do to help. This should be interesting. A lot of the "drug" users I know look like the typical person and do well in school. I wonder what their tactics are going to be?>Some signs are obvious, such as drowsiness and profuse >sweating.Which can happen to people naturally without drug use. These signs are obvious if you want them to be, but they are also sometimes medical problems.>"Some of it is common sense," Feldman said.None of it is common sense.I am sure they will also go after the people who wear tye-dyes, have long hair, listen to Phish, hang out in certain groups, people who's pants are too large, and so on. And chances are, if drug users are busted, they won't be helped but probably suspended and/or arrested.Scott
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