[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 66 (Monday, May 19, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4677-S4679]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. HELMS (for himself, Mr. Faircloth, Mr. Ashcroft, Mr. 
        Grassley, and Mr. Sessions):
  S. 763. A bill to amend the Gun-Free Schools Act of 1994 to require a 
local educational agency that receives funds under the Elementary and 
Secondary Education Act of 1965 to expel a student determined to be in 
possession of an illegal drug, or illegal drug paraphernalia, on school 
property, in addition to expelling a student determined to be in 
possession of a gun; to the Committee on Labor and Human Resources.


                         EDUCATION LEGISLATION

  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, I have just presented a bill to the clerk, 
S. 763, the goal of which is to strike a decisive blow in the war 
against drugs by protecting America's schoolchildren from the scourge 
of drugs in their classrooms.
  Before anyone says, ``Here we go again,'' I counsel all to consider 
the differences between this bill and anything which was enacted 
before.
  Incidentally, I am honored to be joined in the sponsorship of this 
measure by several distinguished Senators--Mr. Faircloth, Mr. Ashcroft, 
Mr. Grassley, and Mr. Sessions.
  Specifically, this legislation will require each school accepting 
Federal education funds under the Elementary and Secondary Education 
Act of 1965 to adopt a zero tolerance policy regarding illegal drugs 
and illegal drug paraphernalia in schools. Zero tolerance means what it 
sounds like. It requires the expulsion, for not less than 1 year, of 
any student who possesses this contraband at school. This will send a 
clear message to students, parents, and teachers: Drugs and schools do 
not mix.
  Illegal drug use is, in my judgment, the most insidious and 
destructive influence in our country today. Its cost to society, in 
terms of crime and wasted lives, is enormous. Just think of the 
innocent babies born already addicted

[[Page S4678]]

to drugs; think of the families destroyed because fathers, mothers, or 
children care more about where they will get their next fix than they 
do their loved ones; think of the neighborhoods that have been 
devastated by swaggering drug dealers peddling poison. These terrible 
things are going on right in the shadow of this Capitol in which the 
U.S. Senate operates.
  Mr. President, Americans have heard these tragic stories so often 
that some citizens have questioned the wisdom of waging war against 
drugs. Last fall, California and Arizona voters took the unprecedented 
step of legalizing the so-called medicinal use of drugs, such as 
marijuana, heroin, and LSD, and in an outrageous decision reported 
recently, a Federal judge in San Francisco, Judge Fern Smith, ruled 
that the Federal Government cannot impose sanctions on doctors who 
recommend marijuana to their patients, despite the fact that such use 
remains illegal under Federal law.
  Is it not time to say enough is enough? Is it not time to go all out 
in the drug war? Mr. President, the answers to these questions are 
obvious: It is time and we must do it. It is time to take every 
possible step to reverse this retreat from responsibility, and 
eliminating drugs from America's classrooms is the imperative, 
inescapable first step.
  Anybody wondering if this bill is needed should take a look at the 
results of the latest ``Monitoring the Future'' [MTF] study of drug use 
among America's 8th-, 10th-, and 12th-graders and ``The National 
Household Survey on Drug Abuse'' study which measures drug use among 
the general population. Both studies dramatically confirm what many of 
us have known: We have lost ground in the war against drugs over the 
past 4 years. Most disturbing is the shocking increase in illicit drug 
use by our school-age children.
  The findings in the ``Monitoring the Future'' study are eye-opening: 
50 percent of 12th-graders have used illicit drugs during their 
lifetime; about 25 percent have used drugs during the past 30 days; 
almost one-third of 8th-graders have used illegal drugs during their 
lifetime; with about 15 percent of 8th-graders using it in the last 30 
days. Marijuana use among 8th- and 10th-graders almost tripled from 
1992 to 1996, while 5 percent of 12th-grade marijuana users are daily 
users.
  But perhaps the most distressing finding is that the youngest 
students surveyed, our 8th-graders, report the highest rate of heroin 
use. Moreover, the percentage of actual drug use may be even greater 
than reported, because the MTF does not survey school dropouts. 
Instead, it relies solely on student self-reporting.
  Similarly, ``The National Household Survey on Drug Abuse'' found 
startling increases in drug use among teenagers over the last 4 years. 
For example, the survey found that teen cocaine use increased 166 
percent in 1 year, 1994-95; teen use of LSD and other hallucinogens 
skyrocketed 183 percent from 1992 to 1995; and the use of marijuana 
among teenagers soared 141 percent over the same period.
  So, Mr. President, it is no coincidence that drug use among our 
children has skyrocketed. Drug dealers deliberately target our young 
people to be both consumers and distributors of illicit drugs because 
our children are our most precious and vulnerable resource. As a 
result, students report that drugs are now the No. 1 problem they face, 
far outdistancing any other concern. That, by the way, was the finding 
of a recent survey conducted by the Center on Addiction and Substance 
Abuse at Columbia University. And what an alarming conclusion it was, 
that it is our students who are on the front lines of the war against 
drugs.
  Today, students of all ages have immediate access to a wide variety 
of drugs that are cheaper and more powerful than those of the past. 
According to the Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, 69 percent of 
17-year-olds report going to schools where students keep, use, and sell 
drugs. Here in the Nation's Capital authorities have closed unsafe 
schools for fire code violations, yet thousands of children still 
attend drug-infested schools. Billions of dollars spent on schools will 
accomplish little, Mr. President, if we do not first ensure that our 
children are safe there.
  The relationship between violence and drug use is clear. The most 
recent national Parents' Resource Institute for Drug Education [PRIDE] 
survey found that students who carried guns to school were 20 times 
more likely to use cocaine than those who did not bring a gun to 
school. Gang members were 12 times more likely to use cocaine, and 
students who threaten others were 6 times more likely to be coke users.
  The findings of a recent Department of Education report prepared by 
the Research Triangle Institute, in my home State of North Carolina, 
confirmed the findings of the PRIDE study. The Research Triangle 
Institute, found--and I quote--``[t]he use of drugs was related to 
violent behavior in schools. A much larger percentage of current users 
of alcohol and/or other drugs (32 percent of them) reported being 
involved in school fights as the aggressors than did current nonusers 
(14 percent of those students) or students who had never tried drugs (6 
percent).''
  Mr. President, that report went on to say that 37 percent of the 
students reported that they are afraid of attacks at school while 29 
percent said they feared attacks when traveling to and from school. 
And, sadly, we must acknowledge that those fears are too often 
justifiable.
  According to the North Carolina Center for the Prevention of School 
Violence, over 8,100 incidents of school violence were reported in 
North Carolina during the last full school year. Possession of a 
controlled substance, possession of a weapon other than a firearm, and 
assault on a school employee together accounted for 85 percent of those 
incidents. That study concluded: ``[t]he high number of reported weapon 
possessions may be reflective of student concern for their own safety, 
even in schools, since the most often cited reason for carrying weapons 
* * * is `protection'.''
  Parents and Government have a duty to do everything we can to protect 
children from the ravages of illegal drugs and the crimes spawned by 
the drug trade. Up until now--I think we ought to be frank with each 
other and acknowledge that we have failed miserably. It is not enough 
to prohibit students from taking guns to school if we do not address 
the reasons why they do so.
  Mr. President, Congress addressed the issue of school violence in 
1994 with the passage of the Gun-Free Schools Act, which required 
States to adopt a law mandating the expulsion of any student who brings 
a gun to school.
  During debate on that bill, it was argued that we should state, as a 
matter of policy, that children should not bring guns to school. In my 
opinion, the Senate should also state, as a matter of policy, that 
drugs have no place in school. That is why I am offering today S. 763, 
a bill which I believe to be a logical and commonsense extension of the 
1994 law.

  Like that act, the bill sponsored by myself and several other 
Senators conditions the receipt of Federal education dollars, that is 
to say, Federal funds, on a State's adoption of a policy requiring the 
expulsion, for not less than one year, of any student who brings 
illegal drugs to school. Now, like the Gun-Free Schools Act, this bill 
does not create a new criminal offense, but it does require schools to 
refer violators to proper law enforcement authorities.
  Both the 1994 act and the bill I am introducing today are flexible. 
Each bill allows the chief administrative officer of a school district 
to grant an exemption on a case-by-case basis, and permits, but does 
not require, school districts to establish alternative education 
facilities for violators.
  So I think the policy is firm, yet fair. The drug trade and the 
violence associated with it have no place in America's classrooms. 
Schools should provide an environment that is conducive to learning and 
supportive of the vast majority of students who are in school to learn. 
Children and teachers alike deserve a school free of the fear and 
violence caused by drugs.
  Mr. President, on the issue of drugs, many speeches have been made 
citing respected authorities and a lot of impressive statistics as I 
have done today. However, nothing any Senator has said on this floor 
speaks quite as eloquently of our responsibilities as the statement of 
one of the students

[[Page S4679]]

involved in the Research Triangle Institute study who said--and get 
this, I say to the Chair and other Senators--this student said, ``I 
don't like how dangerous it is at this school. I just wish the teachers 
and the rest of the school staff would have better control over their 
students and keep kids like me safe.''
  Isn't it time for us to give the teachers and school administrators 
the support they need to remove violence and drug offenders from our 
schools? I think the answer to that is obvious.
  Therefore, Mr. President, the removal of drugs and violence from our 
schools surely are goals that everybody agrees with. The President, 
during his State of the Union Address, said that ``we must continue to 
promote order and discipline'' in America's schools by, as he put it, 
``remov[ing] disruptive students from the classroom, and hav[ing] zero 
tolerance for guns and drugs in school.''
  Obviously, I think the President was right on that one. I do not 
always agree with him, but you can't get any clearer than that. I 
commend him for that statement, and I hope he will support this effort 
by several of us who are concerned about the safety of our youngsters. 
I believe that working together, we can eliminate illegal drugs and 
illegal drug paraphernalia from America's classrooms.
  I ask unanimous consent, Mr. President, that the complete text of the 
aforementioned bill be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                 S. 763

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SAFE SCHOOLS.

       (a) Amendments.--Part F of title XIV of the Elementary and 
     Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8921 et seq.) is 
     amended to read as follows:

               ``PART F--ILLEGAL DRUG AND GUN POSSESSION

     ``SEC. 14601. DRUG-FREE AND GUN-FREE REQUIREMENTS.

       ``(a) Short Title.--This section may be cited as the `Safe 
     Schools Act of 1997'.
       ``(b) Requirements.--
       ``(1) In general.--Each State receiving Federal funds under 
     this Act shall have in effect a State law requiring local 
     educational agencies to expel from school for a period of not 
     less than one year a student who is determined--
       ``(A) to be in possession of an illegal drug, or illegal 
     drug paraphernalia, on school property under the jurisdiction 
     of, or on a vehicle operated by an employee or agent of, a 
     local educational agency in that State; or
       ``(B) to have brought a weapon to a school under the 
     jurisdiction of a local educational agency in that State,

     except that such State law shall allow the chief 
     administering officer of such local educational agency to 
     modify such expulsion requirement for a student on a case-by-
     case basis.
       ``(2) Construction.--Nothing in this title shall be 
     construed to prevent a State from allowing a local 
     educational agency that has expelled a student from such a 
     student's regular school setting from providing educational 
     services to such student in an alternative setting.
       ``(3) Definition.--For the purpose of this section, the 
     term `weapon' means a firearm as such term is defined in 
     section 921(a) of title 18, United States Code.
       ``(c) Special Rule.--The provisions of this section shall 
     be construed in a manner consistent with the Individuals With 
     Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1400 et seq.).
       ``(d) Report to State.--Each local educational agency 
     requesting assistance from the State educational agency that 
     is to be provided from funds made available to the State 
     under this Act shall provide to the State, in the application 
     requesting such assistance--
       ``(1) an assurance that such local educational agency is in 
     compliance with the State law required by subsection (b); and
       ``(2) a description of the circumstances surrounding any 
     expulsions imposed under the State law required by subsection 
     (b), including--
       ``(A) the name of the school concerned;
       ``(B) the number of students expelled from such school; and
       ``(C) the type of illegal drugs, illegal drug 
     paraphernalia, or weapons concerned.
       ``(e) Reporting.--Each State shall report the information 
     described in subsection (d) to the Secretary on an annual 
     basis.
       ``(f) Report to Congress.--Two years after the date of 
     enactment of the Safe Schools Act of 1997, the Secretary 
     shall report to Congress with respect to any State that is 
     not in compliance with the requirements of this part.

     ``SEC. 14602. POLICY REGARDING CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM 
                   REFERRAL.

       ``(a) In General.--No funds shall be made available under 
     this Act to any local educational agency unless such agency 
     has a policy requiring referral to the criminal justice or 
     juvenile delinquency system of any student who is in 
     possession of an illegal drug, or illegal drug paraphernalia, 
     on school property under the jurisdiction of, or on a vehicle 
     operated by an employee or agent of, such agency, or who 
     brings a firearm or weapon to a school served by such agency.
       ``(b) Definitions.--For the purpose of this section, the 
     terms `firearm' and `school' have the same meaning given to 
     such terms by section 921(a) of title 18, United States Code.

     ``SEC. 14603. DATA AND POLICY DISSEMINATION UNDER IDEA.

       ``The Secretary shall--
       ``(1) widely disseminate the policy of the Department in 
     effect on the date of enactment of the Safe Schools Act of 
     1997 with respect to disciplining children with disabilities;
       ``(2) collect data on the incidence of children with 
     disabilities (as such term is defined in section 602(a)(1) of 
     the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 
     1401(a)(1))) possessing illegal drugs, or illegal drug 
     paraphernalia, on school property under the jurisdiction of, 
     or on a vehicle operated by an employee or agent of, a local 
     educational agency, engaging in life threatening behavior at 
     school, or bringing weapons to schools; and
       ``(3) submit a report to Congress not later than 1 year 
     after the date of enactment of the Safe Schools Act of 1997 
     analyzing the strengths and problems with the current 
     approaches regarding disciplining children with disabilities.

     ``SEC. 14604. DEFINITIONS.

       ``In this part:
       ``(1) Illegal drug.--
       ``(A) In general.--The term `illegal drug' means a 
     controlled substance, as defined in section 102(6) of the 
     Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802(6)), the possession 
     of which is unlawful under such Act (21 U.S.C. 801 et seq.) 
     or the Controlled Substances Import and Export Act (21 U.S.C. 
     951 et seq.).
       ``(B) Exclusion.--The term `illegal drug' does not mean a 
     controlled substance used pursuant to a valid prescription or 
     as authorized by law.
       ``(2) Illegal drug paraphernalia.--The term `illegal drug 
     paraphernalia' means drug paraphernalia, as defined in 
     section 422 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 863), 
     except that the first sentence of section 422(d) of such Act 
     shall be applied by inserting `or under the Controlled 
     Substances Import and Export Act (21 U.S.C. 951 et seq.)' 
     before the period.''.
       (b) Effective Date.--This Act and the amendments made by 
     this Act take effect 6 months after the date of enactment of 
     this Act.

  Mr. FAIRCLOTH. Mr. President, I urge my fellow Members of the Senate 
to support the legislation being introduced today by my distinguished 
colleague from North Carolina, Senator Helms--the Safe Schools Act of 
1997.
  Urgent calls for more and more Federal money for schools to pay for 
everything from school construction to Internet access are misplaced. I 
would argue they are misplaced in any case, because decisions about how 
a school district should allocate its resources are better left at the 
local and State level. But they are certainly misplaced without a 
primary commitment to reducing school violence.
  Students cannot learn effectively unless they feel safe. It was hard 
enough to learn in the days when I was in school with the normal 
distractions--the occasional spitball or gum-smacking student. Now some 
students worry about whether they will even survive to graduate from 
high school.
  My colleagues have noted the results of several studies which confirm 
the very strong correlation between school violence and illegal drug 
use. And we already know the cost illegal drugs have exacted in terms 
of ruined lives and the breakdown of families. Yet in the past year we 
have seen two States, California and Arizona, pass laws to legalize the 
so-called medicinal use of drugs like marijuana, heroin, and LSD. That 
is why I introduced the Drug Use Prevention Act to impose strict 
penalties on doctors who prescribe marijuana. As my colleague has 
noted, a San Francisco Federal judge has recently overruled such 
penalties. But that particular debate is far from over yet.
  Many Americans have concluded that the ground lost in recent years in 
the war on drugs is not recoverable, that the war is lost. I disagree. 
Too much is at stake to simply surrender the fight, especially when it 
comes to providing a safe environment for students in public schools. 
At the very least, schools should not receive Federal funds unless they 
refuse to tolerate the presence of drugs as well as firearms on school 
property.
                                 ______