The Cowichan Valley School District says it is undertaking a full investigation after some surprising materials were made available to students at a high school.
Recently, posts surfaced online about “safer snorting straws” being distributed at a high school in the Cowichan Valley by a third party harm reduction group.
An information pamphlet available online for the materials provides tips on preventing infection, and warns of the dangers of sharing snorting devices. It also covers the symptoms of a stimulant overdose, and tells users to have naloxone and to never use drugs alone in case of an overdose.
The district said the materials were left behind following a harm reduction and drug addiction presentation at the school, and they do not consider the items to be “school or age appropriate.”
Mike Russell, Director of Communications for the school district, provided NowMedia with an emailed statement about the incident.
“While the Cowichan Valley School District does support harm reduction as a well-researched and effective method of addressing the ongoing opioid crisis and conversations around drugs and drug addiction, we aim to ensure that the teachings related to it are appropriate for our students. The materials left by this third party did not meet this threshold, and for that we apologize to our community,”
“The materials left by this third party did not meet this threshold, and for that we apologize to our community,” he added.
The district said it will not be releasing the identity of the group that did the presentation at the school.
In addition to an investigation, the district says it will be reviewing the applicable policies and administrative procedures regarding third party presentations and materials.
