Local schools should be proactive in discussing student drug and alcohol use, and provide prevention strategies for youth, says an Ontario family court judge.

Justice Marvin Zuker, also a lecturer at Ontario Institute for Studies in Education for 25 years on education and law, said it's the school board's responsibility to at least hold an assembly or classroom discussions about the use of drugs, alcohol and tobacco after Hamilton Police said they are investigating the possibility that drugs were involved in the death of a 17-year-old Dundas boy last month.

"It's not something that should be swept under the rug," Justice Zuker said.

Hamilton police Detective Joanne Cain said police are waiting for toxicology results to find out if a drug was involved in the boy's death.

Det. Cain said no conclusions on the cause of death can be made until the toxicology test results are known.

"It looks like there was a party, and at this party there were some drugs," Det. Cain said.

She said police have received calls from members of the community with information on where the drugs might have come from.

Det. Cain said a second youth was treated in hospital for signs of a drug overdose and released.

"He told me what he says he took, but I suspect not everyone is telling me the truth," Det. Cain said. "Until toxicology comes back, we can't say anything for sure."

According to police, there were at least five youth at a Dundas address where paramedics responded to a report of a person in cardiac arrest.

A case conference between police and regional supervising coroner Jack Stanborough is planned to review the death.

Justice Zuker said even without all the specific details of this particular case, the school board should bring the issue of student drug use to the attention of both parents and students.

"All parents should be advised, under the Education Act, school should be free of alcohol, tobacco and drugs," he said. "That applies off school grounds as well."

He said teachers often miss signs of drug and alcohol use by their students, and substance dependency can sometimes indicate other problems that need to be addressed.

"I don't think anyone should minimize what happened," Justice Zuker said. "For goodness sake, let us have school assemblies. Let us talk about the seriousness of these issues."

He said while the details of any one child's case are confidential, there are wider issues that need to be discussed.

"Communities need to be working with schools, and schools need to be working with parents. We shouldn't be battling each other," Justice Zuker said.