LEGISLATOR MAY EXPAND DRUG-USE BILL

Law Could Address Teen Drinking

PIERRE - A legislative leader says he may try to include alcohol in a
pending bill that would give South Dakota students a second chance at high
school activities after being suspended for drug use.

House Republican Leader Bill Peterson of Sioux Falls said he's working on a
number of possible changes to the bill, which had its first committee
hearing last week but didn't reach a vote.

"The issue of whether to include alcohol with other drugs in the bill's
coverage is one of the things I'm looking at," Peterson said. "There were
some arguments that the more prevalent problem in our schools is alcohol
abuse. It may be something to consider."

Peterson would add the provisions to a bill aimed at softening a 1997 law
that requires students who use drugs to sit out a full year of high school
activities. A second offense would bar students from those activities for
the rest of their school careers.

The change, proposed by Republican Rep. Casey Murschel of Sioux Falls,
would allow the student to return to a sport or other activity after
undergoing a chemical-dependency assessment with at least 30 hours of
counseling or completion of an accredited treatment program.

The bill passed the House last year but died in the Senate. Then-Gov. Bill
Janklow, who sponsored the 1997 get-tough message, opposed the changes.
Murschel decided to try again this year. She says young people should have
an opportunity to return to activities after a mistake with drugs.

"I don't want them to be kept away from those very activities that might be
best for them, if they're willing to take steps to correct their mistake,"
she said.

When the House State Affairs Committee argued about her bill last week,
Democrat Rep. Mel Olson of Mitchell raised the issue of treating alcohol
violations by students the same as other drug violations. He said Tuesday
he hasn't changed his opinion. The differentiation between alcohol and drug
use is one of three things he said he doesn't like about the current bill.

"First, if a kid doesn't participate in activities, nothing happens, we
don't care about him," Olson said. "Second, the idea that these athletes
are role models and need to set an example apparently only applies if it's
drug use. Finally, I've been a teacher for years, and I've never seen a kid
I knew die from using drugs, but I've known at least a half a dozen who
were killed or maimed because of alcohol.

"So, I'd be willing to listen to discussions about treating both substances
the same."

During committee discussion on Friday, Olson said: "I think adults are to
blame, because while we view drugs as a terrible problem, we wink, wink,
nod, nudge at the parties."

When Janklow introduced the bill in 1997, he told reporters that he didn't
include alcohol because he didn't think he could get enough votes to pass
the measure that way.

Current Gov. Mike Rounds, who has said he doesn't want to dilute the strong
message against drug use, drew a distinction between alcohol and other
drugs during his campaign when he noted that alcohol is illegal only for
those under 21. At some point it becomes a legal substance, which other
drugs never do, he said.

Rounds said student athletes are role models and should be held to a clear
standard of conduct. The existing law does that, he said during a news
conference.

"These young people who look up to those high-schools stars, they get the
message real quick that says it's not cool to use drugs," the governor said.

Murschel said in an interview Monday that she is concerned that the
addition of alcohol to her bill could broaden the range of possible
opponents, but she said her main reason for not including booze was a
pragmatic decision.

"The law I was trying to change dealt only with these other drugs, and the
people who heard the arguments on the bill last session are familiar with
the proposal in that form," she said. "I was making a completely pragmatic
decision to try to keep the issue in a form with which people were familiar."

She also noted that school districts have their own policies on how to
treat students who use alcohol.

The committee hasn't set a date for resuming discussion of the bill, but it
isn't likely to be before Friday. Peterson and Olson both say they'd also
like to talk about a change to differentiate between the treatment of a
student caught using drugs and one caught dealing drugs. Murschel doesn't
object to that conversation.

"If there's a place for such a distinction in this law, I'm certainly
willing to look at it," she said.