RESOURCES
Lockney Policy
Lockney ISD Current Drug Policy
Visit the official website for the Lockney Independent School District and download a Word file of their current drug policy. Note: The policy has been rewritten several times since the Larry v. Lockney suit was settled. The most recent version was amended after the Tecumseh case last year (read about the Supreme Court decision below).
General
Drug Testing: Policy and Legal Issues
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration provides extensive background information and links to resources about federal policies and guidelines surrounding drug testing in the workplace.
ACLU Drug Policy Litigation Project
This special department at the ACLU is featured in "Larry v. Lockney." Go to their website to learn more about the drug policy situation across the country.
Office of National Drug Control Policy
The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy offers an online version of their publication entitled "What You Need to Know About Drug Testing in Schools."
American Academy of Pediatrics
In a statement issued in support of Lindsey Earls in Pottawatomie County vs. Earls, The American Academy of Pediatrics argues that student drug testing is counter-productive, and stresses the importance of extracurricular activities in preventing students from using drugs.
Drug Policy Alliance
The Drug Policy Alliance is an independent organization that aims to educate Americans about alternatives to current drug policies. In addition to extensive information about the many ways in which drug policy affects various communities, their website offers alternatives to school drug testing programs, a list of school who have opposed drug testing, updates on Supreme Court rulings, and other resources.
Drug Testing Fails Our Youth
Provides resources for parents, caregivers, educators, coaches and other adults opposed to their school's proposed drug testing programs. This website was created by the advocacy organization, Drug Policy Alliance (see above).
Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP)
SSDP is a youth-oriented organization that seeks to educate the public about the impact of the War on Drugs, engage youth in the political process, and explore alternative solutions to the nation's drug problems.
Relevant Supreme Court Decisions
Read through the Supreme Court documents from key cases they have heard in the past several years related to drug testing in schools.
The Board of Education of Independent School District Number 92 of Pottawatomie County vs. Earls (2002)
Applying Vernonia School District 47J v. Acton, the Supreme Court upheld The Student Activities Drug Testing Policy adopted by the Tecumseh, Oklahoma School District requiring all middle and high school students to consent to urinalysis testing for drugs in order to participate in any extracurricular activity. Students at the school and their parents alleged that the policy violated the Fourth Amendment.
Vernonia School District vs. Acton, 515 U.S. 646 (1995)
The Supreme Court upheld a school district policy forcing students to consent to suspicionless drug testing in order to participate in interscholastic sports.
Civil Liberties
The Bill of Rights
Visit the Library of Congress website to view the original text of the Bill of Rights.
The Fourth Amendment: Search and Seizure
Find out more about the history and scope of the Fourth Amendment and its recent interpretations with regard to policy and legislation.
The USA Patriot Act
The most recent controversy surrounding Fourth Amendment rights stems from the passage of the USA Patriot Act, which includes provisions for enhancing law enforcement investigatory tools, in order „to deter and punish terrorist acts in the United States and around the world.
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
The ACLU is the organization that Larry Tannahill contacted to help him with his legal case against the school board in Lockney, Tx. The ACLU is concerned with defending and preserving the liberties guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.
Students' Rights
Student Expression
An explanatory article written for public school students outlining the rights guaranteed to them by the first amendment. Includes information about cyberspeech, book censorship and off-campus speech. Helpful resource section includes many past cases and a bibliography of print articles on related subjects.
Exploring Constitutional Conflicts
Review other cases involving students rights, with regard to free speech and religion, student searches and others that involved often conflicting interpretations of the Constitution.
School Dress Codes
Review cases highlighting the debate over mandatory school uniforms policies in public schools.
Coalition for Student and Academic Rights
CO-STAR is a national network of students, professors, teachers and lawyers who work to protect constitutional rights in educational settings through education, advocacy and mediation. The site contains extensive links to sources of information and organizations working around student rights issues.
We have rights too!
This guide, produced by the Northern California chapter of the ACLU, covers questions students might have about their civil rights, including issues involving freedom of expression, school records and dress codes.
Relevant Supreme Court Decisions
Tinker vs. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 393 U.S. 503, 506 (1969)
Ruling that students retained their constitutional rights within the school as long as their actions did not represent a disruption of educational activities, the Supreme Court overturned a school descision to suspend students ruled in favor of students, who wore black armbands to protest the Vietnam War.
Drug Education
General Information
Partnership for a Drug Free America
The Partnership for Drug Free America is a non-profit coalition of professionals from the communications industry who aims to reduce drug use among teens through a national advertising campaign. The New York Times has described the Partnership as "one of the most effective drug-education groups in the U.S."
Hazeldon Organization
A non-profit organization that offers publications about drug abuse, rehabilitation and many links to organizations related to specific drugs and alcohol.
National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information
This government-sponsored website is the largest online resource for current information about drugs, alcohol and abuse. You can search for information by specific drugs and download publications for free.
CESAR - Center for Substance Abuse Research
This center, located at the University of Maryland at College Park, is a great source for studies, surveys and other information about drug abuse across America.
Safety 1st
Website created by the Drug Policy Alliance to promote education about drugs and their effects on teenagers. You can download free fact sheets on alcohol, ecstasy, marijuana and other drugs as well as the pamphlet, "Safety First: A Reality-Based Approach to Teens, Drugs, and Drug Education," available in English, Spanish and Russian. The Drug Policy Alliance is an advocacy organization against drug testing in schools.
Sites for Teens
It's My Life: Drug Abuse, Getting it Straight
PBS Kids show, "It's My Life" tackles the topic of drugs and drug abuse. Learn what happens when you put drugs (like marijuana, ecstasy and cocaine) into your body. Plus, find out how to help a friend who you think might have a problem with drugs.
Heads Up!
This website, sponsored by Scholastic and the National Institute on Drug Abuse, offers kids real news about drugs and how they affect your body.
Drug Use Studies
Monitoring the Future
Read the results of a University of Michigan study that concludes that "drug testing of students does not deter drug use," based on a large, mulit-year national sample of the nation's high school and middle school students.
Parents -- The Anti-Drug: Scientific Studies
Antidrug.com provides a list of links to studies conducted in the United States over the course of the last couple years.
Also on PBS and NPR
PBS.org Websites - Drugs
Moyers on Addiction: Close to Home
This special Bill Moyers program explores the science of understanding and treating addiction. Read about the show or check out Overboard, a 13-part soap opera/comic book about young people dealing with issues of abuse and addiction. If you think you know someone that might be dealing with an addiction, download the excellent guides available here to help you help them with their problem (available in English and Spanish). (1998)
Frontline: Drug Wars
This two-part "Frontline" report examines the people, policies, and struggles behind America's 30-year battle against illegal drugs. Listen to the "All Things Considered" stories in the NPR/Frontline collaboration, Drug Wars. (2000)
Frontline: Busted-- America's War on Marijuana
"Frontline" goes behind the scenes of America's marijuana industry, examining the production, sale, and effort to eradicate the nation's most widely used illegal drug. The website has some helpful health information about the effects of marijuana on the body. (1998)
It's My Life: Drug Abuse, Getting it Straight
PBS Kids show, "It's My Life" tackles the topic of drugs and drug abuse. Learn what happens when you put drugs (like marijuana, ecstasy and cocaine) into your body. Plus, find out how to help a friend who you think might have a problem with drugs. (2002)
PBS.org Websites - Civil Liberties
Now: A Delicate Balancing Act
Review and discussion of civil liberties in wartime. Plus, a proposed draft of Patriot II. (2002)
Online Newshour: Security vs. Civil Rights?
How will the government balance protecting citizens against future attacks with a commitment to protect their civil rights? (2001)
NPR Stories
All Things Considered: Drug Wars
NPR correspondent Deborah Amos explores why, after three decades of effort and billions of dollars in expenditures, America's war on drugs has no victory in sight. A collaboration with Frontline. (2000)
All Things Considered: Drug Testing
A report on the Supreme Court ruled ruling in the Tecumseh case. The decision extends the court's previous permission for schools to test athletes. Larry Abramson reports. (2002)
All Things Considered: Testing Hair for Drugs
In Boston, mandatory drug testing for the police force is being challenged as racially biased. The complaints center around the charge that the color and texture of the hair may play a role in the test results. Robert Siegel talks with Bill Thistle, vice president and general counsel for Psychemedics, a drug testing company in Cambridge, Mass. (2002)
Morning Edition: Drug Tests
Bob Edwards talks to Clay Parker, sheriff in Bedford County, Tennessee, where parents who suspect their children of using illegal drugs can now test them. The government provides parents who ask with a free urine test kit. But some teen counselors don't agree that confronting a child with a cup is the best approach. (2001)
All Things Considered: Drug Free Schools
About half the kids in the Chambersburg Middle School in Pennsylvania have volunteered to take drug tests as part of a local program that gives drug-free kids discounts at local stores and preferential treatment with local employers. A quarter of the high school students also participate in the program, which requires random drug tests. Beau Boughamer has the story. (2000)
Morning Edition: Drug Testing in Schools
Listen to this report by NPR's John Burnett on the mandatory school drug testing policy in Sundown, Texas. The school is near Lockney, TX and talks about the policy there, as well. (2000)