COLORADO SCHOOL SHOOTING JUMPSTARTS FEDERAL EFFORTS FOR SCHOOL DRUG TESTING

In the wake of the shooting tragedy in a Colorado high school, national
leaders are looking for ways to stop the carnage in American schools,
including curbing drug abuse in schools through drug-testing programs.

During the lunch hour at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., on April
20, two high school students armed with guns and explosives went on a
shooting rampage, killing 10 students and a teacher, before taking their own
lives.

The students - Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold - were part of an outcast group
called the trench coat mafia, a group known for wearing dark clothing,
hating the school's athletes and having a fascination with violence and
Nazism.

As a result of this tragedy, Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., has stepped up the
call for passage of legislation he reintroduced in March - S. 638 - to be
used to help schools buy security-related technology. The bill also would
establish a school security center at Sandia National Laboratory in New
Mexico that would be a resource for schools throughout the country.

This effort includes equipment to instantly detect the presence of illegal
drugs, as well as devices to prevent unauthorized people from entering
school property. The drug detection technologies include hair specimen
onsite drug testing for ingestion of illicit drugs.

In addition, chemical sensing platforms developed by Sandia - known as
surface acoustic wave devices or integrated acoustic chemical sensors - can
detect illicit drugs on the skin. The devices are coated with a film to
collect chemical species of interest and sensor systems can detect trace
levels of airborne drugs or other contaminants.

Sandia conducted trials of some of its school security devices at an
Albuquerque, N.M., high school and found significantly reduced violence and
other problems at the school.

The Bingaman bill passed the Senate last year as part of a major budget bill
but had to be deleted at the last minute.

House Bills Call for Random Testing

Meanwhile, on the other side of Capitol Hill, two measures have been
introduced that would promote drug testing in high schools. Rep. John
Peterson, R-Pa., has proposed a measure that authorizes the Education
Department to provide matching grants to state and local education agencies
that want to develop and implement random drug-testing programs.

According to the proposal, parents would be informed of the details of the
random program, including notification of their right to withdraw their
child from participation. Funding, which would go towards children in grades
7-12, would be based on the previous year's enrollment in those grades.

Each local education agency would be given the authority to contract with
outside sources to implement the drug testing programs. A cap would be
placed on the percentage of funds that could be used for federal, state and
local administrative costs.

At a minimum, the drug tests should screen for the following drugs:
marijuana, phencyclidine (PCP), opiates, amphetamines and cocaine. The
primary focus of the funding should be illicit drug testing, Peterson said,
but any excess funds could go toward more comprehensive testing, such as for
steroids. Excess funding also could go for other types of detection such as
drug sniffing dogs.

Peterson's legislation - the "Empowering Parents to Fight Drugs Act of
1999" - would ensure that parents receive any positive results from their
children's drug tests, while the schools would be required to make a good
faith effort to protect the confidentiality of those results.

Medical review officers would be employed or contracted with to interpret
results, inform parents of positive results and identify resources and
services for rehabilitation and education within the community.

At the same time, Rep. James Rogan, R-Calif., has introduced a bill that
would establish random drug testing programs for students in grades 9-12
whose parents have requested such tests. Rogan is calling for $500 million,
which would be distributed through a 50 percent population/50 percent
poverty formula to the states, which would then set up the programs.

Under the bill - the Parental Consent Drug Testing and Counseling Act - test
results will be provided to parents in confidence, and will not be
distributed to law enforcement agencies. If a test is positive, another test
must be available for the parents to consent to from five to seven months
after the initial test. Tests for children who test positive a second time
will be provided every four to six weeks until parents stop requesting the
tests.

For more information, contact: Steve Martin of Sandia National Laboratory at
(505) 844-9723, or Jeffrey Solsby for Rep. James Rogan at (202) 225-4176.