Should they be,could they be Policed ( Drugs in our schools )

Drug dealing / use in school would be a safeguarding issue. There is a legal duty on anyone working in a school to reprt safeguarding concerns.

Missfoodlove I find your post hard to believe. Any headteacher who knowingly allowed a pupil who was really dealing (and there is a difference between dealing and sharing) to go, without reporting the matter to the police would be fully aware that they could face criminal charges. Using is different. Teachers are in loco parentis and are therefore allowed to dispose of the drugs without reporting the incident.
If the child was facing criminal charges but was also suspended for 3 days I admire the head for trying to keep the child in education whilst the law deals with things.

I worked in a secondary school where drugs were commonplace.
The head teacher turned a blind eye.
We had a pupil caught dealing, he got a three day suspension.
Pupils were often high after their lunch break and the smell of cannabis in the nearby churchyard at lunch was overwhelming.
A member of teaching staff told me he was a regular user of skunk and that pupils taking drugs now was no different to cigarette smoking in my day.

Thank you sue will look that up.

From what I've read, PECS, people tend not to move on to harder drugs when they can legally access cannabis. That's because they're not coming into contact with dealers who will tempt with 'Try a bit of this stuff,' offers.

If you want to read a very good book about it, try Good Cop Bad War by Neil Woods.

If some 'recreational' drugs were legalised and sold under licence..like alcohol, I suppose it might remove some of the current illegal trade and linked criminality nb prohibition in USA etc. I can appreciate that argument for legalisation. I am not sure how that impacts on people who use cannabis moving on to 'harder' drugs. Need to do some looking at research.

The drugs problem has been around for many years now. It isn't possible and probably not reasonable to expect that the police can or even want to intervene. Apart from in extreme cases of dealing. Think of it as similar to a family with a problem. If one of your children had a small quantity of drugs and had been using would you call the police? or would you destroy them and try to get the child some help? Teachers are in much the same situation but on a larger scale. Suspending the child, calling the police resulting in criminal charges could result in a child being set on the road to a career in crime.

What do you think the government should do, Bridgeit? There aren't enough police as it is, teachers have enough on their hands coping with the curriculum and all the social issues children have.

I'd be astonished if any schools condoned drug-taking but maybe our schools are fighting a losing battle against the wider world.

I think the time has come to decriminalise some drugs, which would give the govt more control. Portugal has been very successful with this approach.

Schools could not condone drug taking, they are in loco parentis and I'm sure any child caught taking or dealing drugs would be suspended, and I'm sure some are. To supervise children closely enough to prevent drugs entirely would take a lot of resources, which they don't have.
Legalizing some drugs or legal highs would complicate enforcement.

Yes I see your point , but surely being of age doesn’t make it legal & the school would have the right to ban drug use on school premises

Most certainly Bridgeit

However, there are many who wish to legalise some drugs which poses rather a conundrum.
If certain drugs were to be legalised, then what would be the age of legality - and would those who wish to use them still be school pupils?