On July 19th, the U.S. House of Representatives passed by voice vote a bill that could lead to more wide-scale drug searches in public schools across the country. The House ignored opposition from the National PTA, the American Federation of Teachers, the National Association of School Administrators, and the National School Boards Association-- as well as thousands of phone calls from students. Despite the bill's controversial nature, House leaders skipped the committee deliberation process and brought the bill directly to the floor, effectively giving its sponsor, Rep. Geoff Davis (R-KY), a victory to help his reelection bid this November.

The bill, "The Student and Teacher Safety Act of 2006," H.R. 5295, mandates that school districts adopt written policies allowing expanded searches, under threat of losing federal anti-drug funding. Because the bill skipped the committee process to come to the floor, Democrats could have defeated it with just 1/3 of present members voting against it. There is not yet a Senate version of the bill, so it might not be enacted into law. It would allow schools to search large groups of students on the mere suspicion that just one of them has drugs. Read more

Students for Sensible Drug Policy's Blog | SSDP website | StoptheDrugwar.org