Part 4

But we also know that defeating drugs is not easy. We cannot expect the schools to do the job without the help of parents, police, the courts, and other community groups. Drugs will only be beaten when all of us work together to deliver a firm, consistent message to those who would use or sell drugs: a message that illegal drugs will not be tolerated. It is time to join in a national effort to achieve schools without drugs.

_SPECIAL SECTIONS_

TEACHING ABOUT DRUG PREVENTION

Teaching About Drug Prevention: Sample Topics and Learning Activities

_An effective drug prevention curriculum covers a broad set of education objectives. This section presents a model program for consideration by State and local school authorities who have the responsibility to design a curriculum that meets local needs and priorities. The program consists of four objectives, plus sample topics and learning activities._

OBJECTIVE 1: To value and maintain sound personal health; to understand how drugs affect health.

An effective drug prevention education program instills respect for a healthy body and mind and imparts knowledge of how the body functions, how personal habits contribute to good health, and how drugs affect the body.

At the early elementary level, children learn how to care for their bodies. Knowledge about habits, medicine, and poisons lays the foundation for learning about drugs. Older children begin to learn about the drug problem and study those drugs to which they are most likely to be exposed. The curriculum for secondary school students is increasingly drug-specific as students learn about the effects of certain drugs on their bodies and on adolescent maturation.

Sample topics for elementary school:

. The role of nutrition, medicine, and health care professionals in preventing and treating disease.

. The difficulties of recognizing which substances are safe to eat or touch; ways to learn whether a substance is safe: consulting with an adult, reading labels.

. The effects of poisons on the body; the effects of medicine on body chemistry: the wrong drug may make a person ill.

. The nature of habits: their conscious and unconscious development.

Sample topics for secondary school:

. Stress: how the body responds to stress; how drugs increase stress.

. The chemical properties of drugs.

. The effects of drugs on the circulatory, digestive, nervous, reproductive, and respiratory systems. The effects of drugs on adolescent development.

. Patterns of substance abuse: the progressive effects of drugs on the body and mind.

. The drug problem at school, among teenagers, and in society.

Children tend to be present-oriented and are likely to feel invulnerable to long-term effects of drugs. For this reason, they should be taught about the short-term effects of drug use--such as impact on appearance, alertness, and coordination--as well as about the cumulative effects.

Sample learning activities for elementary school:

. Make a coloring book depicting various substances. Color only those items that are safe to eat.

. Use puppets to dramatize what can happen when chemicals are used.

. Write stories about what to do if a stranger offers candy, pills, or a ride.

. Discuss options in class.

. Try, for a limited time, to break a bad habit. The teacher emphasizes that it is easier not to start a bad habit than to break one.

Sample learning activities for high school:

. Discuss the properties of drugs with community experts: physicians, scientists, pharmacists, or law enforcement officers.

. Interview social workers in drug treatment centers. Visit an open meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous. These activities should be open only to mature students; careful preparation and debriefing are essential.

. Research the drug problem at school, in the community, or in the sports and entertainment fields.

. Design a true/false survey about drug myths and facts; conduct the survey with classmates and analyze the results.

. Develop an accessible lending library on drugs, well stocked with up-to-date and carefully chosen materials.

When an expert visits a class, both the class and the expert should be prepared in advance. Students should learn about the expert's profession and prepare questions to ask during the visit. The expert should know what the objectives of the session are and how the session fits into previous and subsequent learning. The expert should participate in a discussion or classroom activity, not simply appear as a speaker.

OBJECTIVE 2: To respect laws and rules prohibiting drugs.

The program teaches children to respect rules and laws as the embodiment of social values and as tools for protecting individuals and society. It provides specific instruction about laws concerning drugs.

Students in the early grades learn to identify rules and to understand their importance, while older students learn about the school drug code and laws regulating drugs.

Sample topics for elementary school:

. What rules are and what would happen without them.

. What values are and why they should guide behavior.

. What responsible behavior is.

. Why it is wrong to take drugs.

Sample topics for secondary school:

. Student responsibilities in promoting a drug-free school.

. Local, State, and Federal laws on controlled substances; why these laws exist and how they are enforced.

. Legal and social consequences of drug use. Penalties for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The relationship between drugs and other crimes.

Sample learning activities for elementary school:

. Use stories and pictures to identify rules and laws in everyday life (e.g., lining up for recess).

. Imagine how to get to school in the absence of traffic laws; try to play a game that has no rules.

. Name things important to adults and then list rules they have made about these things. (This activity helps explain values.)

. Solve a simple problem (e.g., my sister hits me; my math grades are low). Discuss which solutions are best and why.

. Discuss school drug policies with the principal and other staff members. Learn how students can help make the policy work better.

. Explain the connection between drug users, drug dealers, and drug traffickers and law enforcement officers whose lives are placed at risk or lost in their efforts to stop the drug trade.

Sample learning activities for secondary school:

. Resolve hypothetical school situations involving drug use. Analyze the consequences for the school, other students, and the individuals involved.

. Collect information about accidents, crimes, and other problems related to drugs. Analyze how the problem might have been prevented and how the incident affected the individuals involved.

. Conduct research projects. Interview members of the community such as attorneys, judges, police officers, State highway patrol officers, and insurance agents about the effects of drug use on the daily lives of teenagers and their families.

. Draft a legislative petition proposing enactment of a State law on drug use. Participate in a mock trial or legislative session patterned after an actual trial or debate. Through these activities, students learn to develop arguments on behalf of drug laws and their enforcement.

OBJECTIVE 3: To recognize and resist pressures to use drugs.

Social influences play a key role in encouraging children to try drugs. Pressures to use drugs come from internal sources, such as a child's desire to feel included in a group or to demonstrate independence, and external influences, such as the opinions and example of friends, older children, and adults, and media messages.

Students must learn to identify these pressures. They must then learn how to counteract messages to use drugs and gain practice in saying no. The education program emphasizes influences on behavior, responsible decision-making, and techniques for resisting pressures to use drugs.

Sample topics for elementary through high school:

. The influence of popular culture on behavior.

. The influence of peers, parents, and other important individuals on a student's behavior. How the need to feel accepted by others influences behavior.

. Ways to make responsible decisions and deal constructively with disagreeable moments and pressures.

. Reasons for not taking drugs.

. Situations in which students may be pressured into using drugs.

. Ways of resisting pressure to use drugs.

. Benefits of resisting pressure to use drugs.

Sample learning activities for elementary through high school:

. Describe recent personal decisions. In small groups, decide what considerations influenced the decision (e.g., opinions of family or friends, beliefs, desire to be popular) and analyze choices and consequences.

. Examine ads for cigarettes, over-the-counter drugs, and alcohol, deciding what images are being projected and whether the ads are accurate.

. Read stories about famous people who stood up for their beliefs in the face of opposition. Students can discuss how these people withstood the pressure and what they accomplished.

. Give reasons for not taking drugs. Discuss with a health educator or drug counselor the false arguments for using drugs. Develop counter-arguments in response to typical messages or pressures on behalf of drug use.

. Given a scenario depicting pressure to use drugs, act out ways of resisting (simply refusing, giving a reason, leaving the scene, etc.). Students then practice these techniques repeatedly. Demonstrate ways of resisting pressures, using older students specially trained as peer teachers.

. Present scenarios involving drug-related problems (e.g., learning that another student is selling drugs, a sibling using drugs; or being offered a drive home by a friend under the influence of drugs). Students practice what they would do and discuss to whom they would turn for help. Teachers should discuss and evaluate the appropriateness of student responses.

. Discuss how it feels to resist pressures to take drugs. Hold a poster contest to depict the benefits derived both from not using and from saying no (e.g., being in control, increased respect from others, self-confidence).

OBJECTIVE 4: To promote activities that reinforce the positive, drug-free elements of student life.

School activities that provide students opportunities to have fun without drugs--and to contribute to the school community--build momentum for peer pressure not to use drugs. These school activities also nurture positive examples by giving older students opportunities for leadership related to drug prevention.

Sample activities:

. Make participation in school activities dependent on an agreement not to use drugs.

. Ensure that drugs will not be available at school-sponsored activities or parties. Plan these events carefully to be certain that students have attractive alternatives to drug use.

. Give students opportunities for leadership. They can be trained to serve as peer leaders in drug prevention programs, write plays, or design posters for younger students. Activities such as these provide youthful role models who demonstrate the importance of not using drugs. Youth training programs are available that prepare students to assist in drug education and provide information on how to form drug-free youth groups.

. Form action teams for school improvement with membership limited to students who are drug free. These action teams campaign against drug use, design special drug-free events, conduct and follow up on surveys of school needs, help teachers with paperwork, tutor other students, or improve the appearance of the school. Through these activities, students develop a stake in their school, have the opportunity to serve others, and have positive reasons to reject drug use.

HOW THE LAW CAN HELP

Federal law accords school officials broad authority to regulate student conduct and supports reasonable and fair disciplinary action. The Supreme Court recently reaffirmed that the constitutional rights of students in school are not "automatically coextensive with the rights of adults in other settings."[1] Rather, recognizing that "in recent years ... drug use and violent crime in the schools have become major social problems," the Court has emphasized the importance of effective enforcement of school rules.[2] On the whole, a school "is allowed to determine the methods of student discipline and need not exercise its discretion with undue timidity."[3]

An effective campaign against drug use requires a basic understanding of legal techniques for searching and seizing drugs and drug-related material, for suspending and expelling students involved with drugs, and for assisting law enforcement officials in the prosecution of drug offenders. Such knowledge will both help schools identify and penalize students who use or sell drugs at school and enable school officials to uncover the evidence needed to support prosecutions under Federal and State criminal laws that contain strong penalties for drug use and sale. In many cases, school officials can be instrumental in successful prosecutions.

In addition to the general Federal statutes that make it a crime to possess or distribute a controlled substance, there are special Federal laws designed to protect children and schools from drugs:

An important part of the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984 makes it a _Federal crime to sell drugs in or near a public or private elementary or secondary school._ Under this new _"schoolhouse" law_, sales within 1,000 feet of school grounds are punishable by up to _double_ the sentence that would apply if the sale occurred elsewhere. Even more serious mandatory penalties are available for repeat offenders.[4]

_Distribution or sale to minors_ of controlled substances is also a _Federal crime_. When anyone over age 21 sells drugs to anyone under 18, the seller runs the risk that he will receive up to _double_ the sentence that would apply to a sale to an adult. Here too, more serious penalties can be imposed on repeat offenders.[5]

By working with Federal and State prosecutors in their area, schools can help to ensure that these laws and others are used to make children and schools off-limits to drugs.

The following pages describe in general terms the Federal laws applicable to the development of an effective school drug policy. This handbook is not a compendium of all laws that may apply to a school district, and it is not intended to provide legal advice on all issues that may arise. School officials must recognize that many legal issues in the school context are also governed, in whole or in part, by State and local laws, which, given their diversity, cannot be covered here. Advice should be sought from legal counsel in order to understand the applicable laws and to ensure that the school's policies and actions make full use of the available methods of enforcement.

Most private schools, particularly those that receive little or no financial assistance from public sources and are not associated with a public entity, enjoy a greater degree of legal flexibility with respect to combating the sale and use of illegal drugs. Depending on the terms of their contracts with enrolled students, such schools may be largely free of the restrictions that normally apply to drug searches or the suspension or expulsion of student drug users. Private school officials should consult legal counsel to determine what enforcement measures may be available to them.

School procedures should reflect the available legal means for combating drug use. These procedures should be known to and understood by school administrators and teachers as well as students, parents, and law enforcement officials. Everyone should be aware that school authorities have broad power within the law to take full, appropriate, and effective action against drug offenders. Additional sources of information on legal issues in school drug policy are listed at the end of this handbook.

SEARCHING FOR DRUGS WITHIN THE SCHOOL

In some circumstances, the most important tool for controlling drug use is an effective program of drug searches. School administrators should not condone the presence of drugs _anywhere_ on school property. The presence of any drugs or drug-related materials in school can mean only one thing--that drugs are being used or distributed in school. Schools committed to fighting drugs should do everything they can to determine whether school grounds are being used to facilitate the possession, use, or distribution of drugs and to prevent such crimes.

In order to institute an effective drug search policy in schools with a substantial problem, school officials can take several steps. First, they can identify the specific areas in the school where drugs are likely to be found or used. Student lockers, bathrooms, and "smoking areas" are obvious candidates. Second, school administrators can clearly announce _in writing_ at the _beginning_ of the school year that these areas will be subject to unannounced searches and that students should consider such areas "public" rather than "private." The more clearly a school specifies that these portions of the school's property are public, the less likely it is that a court will conclude that students retain any reasonable expectation of privacy in these places and the less justification will be needed to search such locations.

School officials should, therefore, formulate and disseminate to all students and staff a written policy that will permit an effective program of drug searches. Courts have usually upheld locker searches where schools have established written policies under which the school retains joint control over student lockers, maintains duplicate or master keys for all lockers, and reserves the right to inspect lockers at any time.[6] While this has not become established law in every part of the country, it will be easier to justify locker searches in schools that have such policies. Moreover, the mere existence of such policies can have a salutary effect. If students know that their lockers may be searched, drug users will find it much more difficult to maintain quantities of drugs in school.

The effectiveness of such searches may be improved with the use of specially trained dogs. Courts have generally held that the use of dogs to detect drugs on or in _objects_ such as lockers, ventilators, or desks as opposed to persons, is not a "search" within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment.[7] Accordingly, school administrators are generally justified in using dogs in this way.

It is important to remember that any illicit drugs and drug-related items discovered at school are evidence that may be used in a criminal trial. School officials should be careful, first, to protect the evidentiary integrity of such seizures by making sure that the items are obtained in permissible searches, since unlawfully acquired evidence will not be admissible in criminal proceedings. Second, school officials should work closely with local law enforcement officials to preserve, in writing, the nature and circumstances of any seizure of drug contraband. In a criminal prosecution, the State must prove that the items produced as evidence in court are the same items that were seized from the suspect. Thus, the State must establish a "chain of custody" over the seized items which accounts for the possession of the evidence from the moment of its seizure to the moment it is introduced in court. School policy regarding the disposition of drug-related items should include procedures for the custody and safekeeping of drugs and drug-related materials prior to their removal by the police and procedures for recording the circumstances regarding the seizure.

_Searching Students_

In some circumstances, teachers or other school personnel will wish to search a student whom they believe to be in possession of drugs. The Supreme Court has stated that searches may be carried out according to "the dictates of reason and common sense."[8] The Court has recognized that the need of school authorities to maintain order justifies searches that might otherwise be unreasonable if undertaken by police officers or in the larger community. Thus the Court held in 1985 that school officials, unlike the police, do _not_ need "probable cause" to conduct a search. Nor do they need a search warrant.[9]

Under the Supreme Court's ruling:

. School officials may institute a search if there are "reasonable grounds" to believe that the search will reveal evidence that the student has violated or is violating either the law or the rules of the school.

. The extent of the permissible search will depend on whether the measures used are reasonably related to the purpose of the search and are not excessively intrusive in light of the age and sex of the student.

. School officials are not required to obtain search warrants when they carry out searches independent of the police and other law enforcement officials. A more stringent legal standard may apply if law enforcement officials are involved in the search.

_Interpretation of "Reasonable Grounds"_

Lower courts are beginning to interpret and apply the "reasonable grounds" standard in the school setting. From these cases it appears that courts will require more than general suspicion, curiosity, rumor, or a hunch to justify searching a student or his possessions. Factors that will help sustain a search include the observation of specific and describable behavior or activities leading one reasonably to believe that a given student is engaging in or has engaged in prohibited conduct. The more specific the evidence in support of searching a particular student, the more likely the search will be upheld. For example, courts using a "reasonable grounds" (or similar) standard have upheld the right of school officials to search:

. A student's purse, after a teacher saw her smoking in a restroom and the student denied having smoked or being a smoker.[10]

. A student's purse, after several other students said that she had been distributing firecrackers.[11]

. A student's pockets, based on a phone tip about drugs from an anonymous source believed to have previously provided accurate information.[12]

_Scope of the Permissible Search_

School officials are authorized to conduct searches within reasonable limits. The Supreme Court has described two aspects of these limits. First, when officials conduct a search, they must use only measures that are reasonably related to the purpose of the search; second, the search may not be excessively intrusive in light of the age or sex of the student. For example, if a teacher believes she has seen one student passing a marijuana cigarette to another student, she might reasonably search the students and any nearby belongings in which the students might have tried to hide the drug. If it turns out that what the teacher saw was a stick of gum, she would have no justification for any further search for drugs.