- 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.
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.