By Bryan Kay and Graeme Cleland

ANGRY PARENTS have claimed a wall of silence has been thrown up around the discovery of amphetamine by a five-year-old boy at a Dundee primary school.

Police confirmed yesterday that the substance taken home by a youngster from Mossgiel Primary last Thursday was the drug popularly known as speed.

But last night Dundee City Council remained unwilling to comment on the potential ramifications of the shock find.

Parents of pupils who attend the school are worried the incident could easily happen again at the school or another school in the city and are demanding answers.

The primary one pupil at the centre of the outrage was said to have discovered a bag containing less than half a gramme of the drug in his school tray.

He took the bag home where it was found in his coat pocket by his parents, who immediately alerted police.

The boy’s father said if drugs had been brought into the school once it could happen again—with far more serious consequences.

One mother, who has a seven-year-old son at Mossgiel, voiced her anger at how the situation has been dealt with.

“I think it’s a disgrace the way the whole thing has been handled—the wall of silence has been deafening,” she said.

“It’s scandalous the only information parents have got has come from The Courier.

“They had the whole of Friday to acknowledge it and explain what had happened but did nothing.

“Any other child could have come across more of this drug and taken it because parents knew nothing and wouldn’t have been able to warn them of the danger.

“I’ve written to the school and the education department but received no proper response.

“It looks like the only way we’ll find out any more is reading the papers.

“I’m just so angry that we’ve been treated like this—it shows a total lack of respect for the parents of children at the school.”

Another mother who also has a seven-year-old boy at the school condemned a lack of communication with parents.

“The head teacher hasn’t sent home letters or called a meeting or anything to let us know what’s going on,” she said.

She alleged youths in the area had been smashing windows over the past few weeks—raising the possibility that the drug could have been left there by vandals.

She continued, “It’s got to be investigated properly and they’ve got to find out where it came from.”

Leader of the council administration Jill Shimi said it would be unwise to speculate on potential lessons to be learned from the incident until the police investigation is complete.

The president of the Scottish School Board Association fears there isn’t much schools can do to stop hard drugs from entering the classroom in the manner they did in Dundee.

Caroline Vass, an East Lothian representative, told The Courier drugs are a fact of life and schools could not be made responsible for policing illicit substances.

“We are quite horrified that this can happen, and we are concerned a young child was able to get drugs, but we do believe schools will take action to cut things like this out,” she said.

“The schools do everything to educate youngsters—their education on drugs is fantastic—but as concerned as parents are, you cannot legislate for everything. Drugs are a fact of life.

“The schools make sure children are as safe as possible.

“They (Mossgiel) won’t be taking it lightly, I’m sure a review will be done to see how it happened, and they’ll see if they can tighten up.

“At the same time, you cannot stop children coming into contact with drugs on some occasions.”