(16) Drug Education. In accordance with Code of Ala. 1975, Title 16, Chapter 41, the State Superintendent of Education shall administer the rules adopted by the State Board of Education pertaining to a program of drug, narcotic, alcohol, and tobacco education for the schools of the state.   * (a) All students, Grades K-12, shall be taught the adverse and dangerous effects of drugs on the human mind and body.

• (b) An interdisciplinary drug education curriculum has been developed by the Alabama State Department of Education to assist schools in complying with these rules and the Alabama Drug Abuse Education Act. Copies may be obtained from Division of Instruction, State Department of Education, Montgomery, AL 36130.

The Alabama Course of Study: Health Education addresses the foundational knowledge and skills for a comprehensive school health program. It incorporates the eight major health content areas necessary for a successful school health program. These areas are consumer and community health, environmental health, family health, personal health and safety, mental and emotional health, nutrition, prevention and control of disease, and substance use and abuse.

Any program or curriculum in the public schools of Alabama that includes drug education or instructs on the use of drugs or alcohol shall, as a minimum, include the following: (1) Age-appropriate, developmentally-based drug and alcohol education and prevention programs that address the legal, social, and health consequences of drug and alcohol use and that provide information about effective techniques for resisting peer pressure to use illicit drugs or alcohol for students in all grades of the public schools from early childhood level through grade 12. (2) Information conveying to students that the use of illicit drugs and the unlawful possession and use of alcohol is wrong and harmful and is punishable by fines and imprisonment. (3) Standard of conduct that are applicable to students and employees in all public schools and that clearly prohibit, at a minimum, the unlawful possession, use, or distribution of illicit drugs and alcohol by students and employees on school premises, or as part of any activities of the school. (4) A clear statement that sanctions, consistent with local, state, and federal law, up to and including expulsion or termination of employment and referral for prosecution, will be imposed on students and employees who violate the Standard of conduct required by subdivision (3). A description of those sanctions shall be included.

(5) Implementing the provisions of this chapter to insure that actual pupil instruction in drug abuse education will begin with the opening of the 1971-72 school year, as part of the curriculum of every elementary, junior and senior high school in this state.

The purpose of this chapter is to insure the development of a comprehensive drug abuse education program for all children and youth in grades one through 12. It is the legislative intent that this program shall teach the adverse and dangerous effects on the human mind and body of drugs and that such instruction shall be intensive and that it shall be given immediate emphasis, beginning with the 1971-72 school year. It is further the intent of the Legislature that the voluntary services of persons from the professions of clergy, education, medicine, law enforcement, social services and such other professionally and occupationally qualified individuals as can make a contribution to this program be utilized in its implementation so that the highest possible degree of expertise may be brought to bear.