Spot checking students’ bags and drug tests should be explored – PM

It is a concern not only for schools, but also for the nation.

These are the words of Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka to the media regarding the two 17-year-old students allegedly found with cocaine and marijuana on the school premises last week in Lautoka and Nausori.

Rabuka says it is very sad that it has come up in the last few weeks but it was probably brewing under the surface.

The Prime Minister says it was probably not observed or deliberately not seen.

He says a few years ago in Parliament, the opposition raised a question on whether there should be a National Inquiry to combat drugs, which was not taken up by the government at the time.

The Prime Minister says they now have the opportunity to look at it again after discovering those big drug busts in the West.

Rabuka says the spot checks should be allowed at schools by checking students’ bags, and he also says we should look at drug tests as well.

Rabuka says if drug tests are not against any human rights, it will have to be dealt with along those lines.

He adds if health authorities think it can be implemented, then it must be done.