Pierce should not waste any effort in getting dogs on campus to search students for drugs. The population of Pierce is diverse and there is no certain way to know how many students are consuming drugs.
One thing that is certain is, those who do consume drugs will not be willing to blatantly tell others of their actions because it leads to consequences. Also, it depends on the type of drugs that are used.
It’s not like students are using heavy drugs such as cocaine or meth. Marijuana is the most common type of drug that young adults use recreationally. There is no point in bringing search dogs just for small amounts of marijuana on campus.
An aspect of this issue to consider is, how will administration decide to best use the dogs to their full advantage if dogs are brought in. It can’t be how it was back in high school, where they took a number of students out of class to search them.
Students are paying for classes. It is infuriating having to pay for an education to then be removed from class for a period of time because of a silly drug search. Class time is important and it should not be interrupted for trivial issues.
Administration could potentially set up dog searches as students walk around campus but yet again it would take time away from students and getting class. Many students have jobs or other responsibilities to attend to and do not have the time to spend waiting around.
Another idea might be stopping students from entering the library to let the dogs search them for contraband. Letting the dogs take time away from studying, researching and meeting deadlines for assignments. I’m sure there would be an uproar for that. I know I’d be angry.
Drug dogs are trained to use their nose to identify illegal substances but their noses are not 100 percent accurate.
Athletes with sweaty gym clothes or a student carrying sweets would have dogs barking calling attention to them.
Although, on campus students lose certain rights and are subjugated to campus regulations it’s embarrassing to have someone search your person and items for suspicion of possessing drugs thanks to a dog.
Then will the college have to pay for these dogs? There are many other projects that money should be spent on.
Many students are on campus for hours on end and yet the bathrooms on campus are inadequate. Money could be spent on hiring more IT members to help with the technology situation occurring in most departments.
Before anything is done about anything else like the war on drugs, Pierce should do their best to find solutions for more prominent issues.
Don’t get me wrong, dogs are wonderful animals and I think it would be fantastic if Pierce brought dogs to help with stress during finals week but to use dogs to search students is incredibly time consuming and pointless.
