“NDP ‘harm reduction’ has gone off the rails. Drugs are poison, not colourful candy. Using cartoonish flashcards to manipulate young children is not OK. This is propaganda disguised as education, and it has no place in our schools.”
– Steve Kooner, Attorney General Critic & MLA for Richmond-Queensborough
RICHMOND, BC: Conservative MLA Steve Kooner, Critic for Attorney General, is calling on Premier David Eby and the NDP to explain why children were exposed to flashcards detailing how to use meth, cocaine, ecstasy, and date rape drug GHB at a school-sanctioned event this week in Nanaimo. “This isn’t harm reduction, it’s child endangerment,” said MLA Kooner. “What the NDP are exposing kids to is beyond comprehension. Colourful flashcards explaining how to ‘dose’ date rape drugs and snort cocaine were distributed at an event attended by 10-year-olds. This isn’t education. It is grooming kids into drug culture.” The flashcards, distributed by AIDS Vancouver Island (AVI), offered instructions on how to use different drugs and were handed out at a school event sponsored by teachers. Despite a parent raising concerns on-site, AVI staff refused to remove the cards, which remained accessible to children for the duration of the event. “The school has issued an apology, but that’s not enough,” Kooner said. “We must stop sending mixed messages on drugs to children. The time to act is now. BC needs legislation to protect our kids and keep radical drug lobbyists out of our schools. AVI’s activism, paid for by the NDP with our taxpayer dollars, must be stopped.” Kooner emphasised this incident highlights the urgent need to pass his Private Members Bill M213, titled the Drug Use Prevention Education in Schools Act. The bill mandates that schools must deliver clear, consistent anti-drug messaging, prominently display warnings, and explicitly discourage drug use in the curriculum. Kooner concluded: “The health of our youth must come first, before any ideology. Let’s restore common sense and protect our kids from the NDP’s pro-drug agenda.”-30-
Media Contact: Robert Eales, Communications Officer Robert.Eales@leg.bc.ca +1 (778) 967-2818