S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   1540
 
                        2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                             January 17, 2023
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by M. of A. WALLACE -- read once and referred to the Commit-
   tee on Education
 
 AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to providing  for  health
   education pertaining to cannabis
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   Section 1. Section 804 of the education law, as amended by chapter 390
 of the laws of 2016, subdivision 1 as amended by chapter 1 of  the  laws
 of 2017, is amended to read as follows:
   § 804.  Health  education  regarding  mental health, alcohol, [drugs,]
 tobacco, CANNABIS AND DRUG abuse and the  prevention  and  detection  of
 certain  cancers.   1. All schools shall ensure that their health educa-
 tion programs recognize the multiple dimensions of health  by  including
 mental  health  and  the relation of physical and mental health so as to
 enhance student understanding,  attitudes  and  behaviors  that  promote
 health, well-being and human dignity.
   2. All schools shall include, as an integral part of health education,
 instruction  so  as  to  discourage  the  misuse  and  abuse of alcohol,
 tobacco, CANNABIS and other drugs and  promote  attitudes  and  behavior
 that enhance health, well being, and human dignity.
   3.  Instruction  regarding  alcohol, tobacco, CANNABIS and other drugs
 shall be included in the health education provided  for  all  elementary
 school  pupils  and shall be taught by the regular classroom teachers or
 by teachers certified to teach health education. Such instruction  shall
 be  designed  according  to  the  needs  and  abilities of the pupils at
 successive grade levels with the purpose of developing desirable  health
 behavior,  attitudes, and knowledge as well as self-reliance and problem
 solving capacity.
   4. Instruction regarding alcohol, tobacco, CANNABIS and  other  drugs,
 in  addition  to  continued  health  guidance  in the junior high school
 grades and the senior high schools, shall  be  an  integral  part  of  a
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD01228-01-3
              

 A. 1540                             2
 
 required  health education course at each of these levels in the second-
 ary schools curriculum. Students shall be required to demonstrate  know-
 ledge  in  the subject area through the use of a test, graded project or
 report,  or any other means prescribed by the school authorities regard-
 ing alcohol, [drugs, and] tobacco, CANNABIS AND OTHER DRUGS.   Any  such
 course  shall  be  taught  by  teachers  holding  a certificate to teach
 health. Related courses in the  secondary  school  curriculum  shall  be
 taught  in  a  manner  supportive of health education regarding alcohol,
 tobacco, CANNABIS and other drugs. In  addition,  instruction  regarding
 the  dangers  of  driving  while under the influence of alcohol or drugs
 shall be an integral part of a required health education course  in  the
 senior  high  schools.  Such instruction shall be provided in all senior
 high schools whether or not these schools also provide driver  education
 courses.
   5.  Instruction  regarding  methods  of  prevention  and  detection of
 certain cancers, including  but  not  limited  to  breast  cancer,  skin
 cancer,  testicular  cancer  and  other cancers where certain preventive
 measures have become generally accepted and  certain  detection  methods
 have been adopted and recommended generally to the public. Such instruc-
 tion  shall be an integral part of a required health education course at
 the senior high school level, in addition to continued  health  guidance
 in  senior  high  schools.  Any  such course shall be taught by teachers
 holding a certificate to teach health.
   6. a. The commissioner may prescribe in regulations such health educa-
 tion courses  which  include  instruction  regarding  alcohol,  tobacco,
 CANNABIS  and  other  drugs  as  the commissioner may deem necessary and
 desirable for the welfare of pupils and the community. The contents  may
 be  varied to meet the needs of particular school districts, or portions
 thereof, and need not be uniform throughout the state, provided,  howev-
 er, that school districts shall utilize either the curriculum for health
 education  instruction  regarding  alcohol,  tobacco, CANNABIS and other
 drugs prescribed by the commissioner or a course approved by the commis-
 sioner in accordance with criteria established by the commissioner.  The
 commissioner  is  authorized  to  make  recommendations  to the board of
 regents beginning December first, two thousand fourteen and every  three
 years  thereafter  relating  to  the  modernization  of such instruction
 required pursuant to subdivision one of this  section,  to  include  the
 most  up  to  date  age  appropriate information available regarding the
 misuse and abuse of alcohol, tobacco, CANNABIS and other drugs,  includ-
 ing  but  not  limited  to  heroin  and  opioids. Such instruction shall
 include, but not be limited to, information regarding  drugs  and  other
 substances  that are more prevalent among school aged youth. Such recom-
 mendations shall be the result of a collaboration  between  the  depart-
 ment,  the  office  of  alcoholism  and substance abuse services and the
 department of health. If the board of regents  adopts  such  curriculum,
 the  curriculum  requirement  shall  take  effect no later than the next
 school year after such curriculum has been adopted.
   b. The commissioner shall make  available  an  interpersonal  violence
 prevention  education  package  for  grades kindergarten through twelve,
 which package may consist of student pamphlets, parent pamphlets,  vide-
 otapes  and  other  informative  materials  to  be distributed to school
 districts, and shall encourage the use of such material as part  of  the
 health or other related curricula or programs.
   c.  The  regents  shall  review  the health curriculum requirements in
 existence on the effective date of this paragraph  for  the  purpose  of
 streamlining  such  curriculum  and  identifying any outdated components
 A. 1540                             3
 
 that may be eliminated or consolidated in order to ensure that  students
 have sufficient time and instruction to develop skills to address issues
 of violence prevention and mental health. To the extent appropriate, the
 regents shall modify the existing curriculum to provide greater focus on
 the  development  of  skills,  by  no later than middle school, that are
 needed to recognize, cope with and address potentially violent incidents
 including an understanding of student roles in emergency situations  and
 other  related  skills  designed  to  reduce  the  threat of violence in
 schools.
   7. School authorities shall provide the needed facilities,  time,  and
 place  for  the  instruction set forth herein and shall provide learning
 aids and curriculum resource materials  which  contribute  to  effective
 teaching  methods  and  learning  in health education regarding alcohol,
 tobacco, CANNABIS and other drugs.
   8. All pre-service training  programs  in  the  state  for  elementary
 teachers shall include adequate preparation regarding the instruction in
 alcohol,  tobacco,  CANNABIS  and  other  drugs set forth herein, and no
 teacher shall be licensed except upon satisfactory demonstration of  the
 competencies  included  in  the  institutional proposals approved by the
 department.
   9. Nothing contained in this section shall be deemed  to  diminish  or
 impair  the  duties  of  the commissioner with respect to the continuing
 program for  critical  health  problems  established  by  chapter  seven
 hundred  eighty-seven  of  the  laws  of nineteen hundred sixty-seven as
 amended. The commissioner shall coordinate actions taken under authority
 of this section with the provisions of said chapter as  they  relate  to
 health  education  in schools, inservice training and training programs,
 and curriculum or syllabus development regarding the deleterious effects
 resulting from the use, misuse, and abuse of alcohol, tobacco,  CANNABIS
 and other drugs.
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.