Thank you for giving me the honor and privilege of being here today. My name is Chris and I am 24 years old. I graduated high school in 1992. Since then much has changed. I can only imagine how much schools have changed from when my father graduated. After graduation I enrolled at the University of Cincinnati to study aeronautical engineering. In 1995 I transferred to Hocking College, which is located, I southeastern Ohio. After college I enrolled in the Ohio Police Officer Training Academy and became a certified police officer in March of 1997. After graduation from the police academy PLE Group, a private company that specializes in undercover investigations hired me.

Bill Taylor founded Professional Law Enforcement, Inc. (d.b.a. PLE Group), headquartered in Dayton, Ohio in 1981. Originally PLE Group performed undercover investigations for government agencies and corporations throughout the United States. It wasn’t until the early 1990’s that PLE Group started to specialize in high school undercover investigations.

Upon successful completion of PLE Group’s 140-hour Drug Identification & Undercover Operations Academy, I started performing undercover assignments in high schools. The reason I am here today is to give you a better idea as to the extent of the drug problem in high schools. The best way for me to do this is to describe several of the situations I witnessed while I was on assignment. The following incidents occurred in two separate high school investigations. These high schools were located middle and upper middle class communities, both of which were located in the Midwest region of the country.

In the course of one of the investigations, I went out to a party with some students. The driver of the car was under the influence of both marijuana and alcohol. His girlfriend was also under the influence of both previously mentioned substances along with another drug that she didn’t even know what it was. While driving down a congested street, she began violent for no apparent reason. He began swerving and started to hit her back. At approximately 35 mph she tried to jump out of the car. When I locked the door so she couldn’t jump out and possibly kill herself, she again started to hit him. I wrapped my arms around her to prevent her from hitting him. The guy sitting next to me tried to control the driver. We then tried to convince the driver to pull over. While this was happening the driver was all over the road, nearly hitting five other cars. and a light pole. Finally, the driver stopped the car. An off duty police officer saw what was going on and followed us. He blocked our car in so we couldn't leave and then contacted the police. Once on site the police took control of the situation. Despite the severity of this situation and the negative effects the unknown drug had on this girl, she and her boyfriend continued to abuse drugs throughout the rest of my investigation. I can honestly say I have never been so scared of losing my life as I was at that moment. You ask how big of a problem it is? To the drivers and passengers of the five cars that were nearly hit it was life threatening.

In another high school I made multiple purchases of LSD, otherwise known as acid, from a junior high school student. During the police interview at the conclusion of the investigation he claimed that he sold a sheet of acid every two weeks. To put this in perspective, there are typically 100 hits of acid on a sheet and he would sell a single hit for $5.00. His cost per hit was between 25 and 50 cents. Therefore he would make anywhere from $300 - $400 every two weeks. During the police interview he would not tell police who his supplier was, instead he would only tell them who his primary competitor was. His competitor was also a student in the high school and also sold a sheet of acid every one or two weeks. Students in this high school consumed at least 200 hits of acid every two weeks. That seems like a sizable problem to me.

Additionally, I purchased marijuana from an eighteen-year-old senior. During his police interview, he informed them he was selling a minimum of 2 lbs. per week. Most of his sales were to fellow high school students. He went on to say he sold ¼ oz. bags of marijuana for $45 to $55. This means he sold 128, ¼ oz. bags of marijuana a week. His cost was $2,000.00 per pound therefore he would net between $3,760 to $5,040 a week. When questioned by police, he was hesitant to give up the names of people he was buying from. He stated that his sources would frequently point guns at him and threatens to kill him if he ever crossed them.

In April of this year a fellow agent at PLE was conducting a case. An adult in his mid 40's introduced the agent to his two sons, ages 20 and 22. He told the agent that he buys marijuana from his two sons and that they would sell to him too. He did, however, warn the agent not to cross them. Near the end of the investigation the agent set-up a deal with the sons to purchase two pounds of marijuana. This deal was two large for the brothers so the deal was to go down with their supplier. It turned out that their supplier was a 16 year-old starting third baseman for the local high school team. I bring up the fact that he was a starting third baseman because the only way he would identify the person who gave him the marijuana was if the police allowed him to play baseball that evening. The person who supplied him was a 17 year-old high school student. That person was caught with two more pounds in his house, making this a total of 4 lbs. of marijuana confiscated. These students were not concerned about the consequences of their actions. They were more concerned about making money and playing baseball than they were serving jail time. Also, when questioned, the mother of the juvenile that had four pounds of marijuana in the house claimed that she did not know what was going on in her own home.

Teachers can unknowingly contribute to the problem. One teacher I had would often joke about drug use. He offered to teach the students drinking games when they turned 21. Occasionally he would pretend to be high, and several times he would pretend to snort the chalk dust, as if it were cocaine. Although he was just trying to be funny and relate to the students, you have to wonder what kind of message that sends. Although there were a few teachers who behaved in this or similar manner, the vast majority of the teachers I had were not tolerant of drug abuse.

It is my belief that many of the teachers I had would not recognize the affects that drugs have on students. Nor are many capable of identifying the drugs themselves. Drug identification and awareness courses offered to teachers may help to reduce this problem.

PLE Group is the first private company to perform undercover investigations in high schools. Even the company’s president, a seasoned undercover investigator was shocked at the number of drug buys a PLE Group agent was able to make at the first high school undercover operation. To put this in perspective, PLE Group has performed undercover investigations in corporations for 17 years and it typically takes four to six months to make 12-15 drug buys. In a high school it only takes a PLE Group agent two to three months to achieve the same results. In my opinion this indicates the drug problem is as severe, if not more severe, with students as with adults.

All of the high school investigations PLE Group performed were initiated by proactive school officials to determine how large of a drug problem existed. At the end of each investigation, school officials have been pleased and community opinions have been nothing but positive. Everyone involved is relieved because some of the drug dealers have been removed and school officials have proven to their community that they are going to be proactive in dealing with the drug problem. In other words they are taking steps to provide a safer environment for the children of their community.

PLE continues to meet with school superintendents who believe that their school system does not have a drug problem, even after students and parents complain of a drug problem. My experience leads me to believe that most schools have a drug problem. An example of how drug abuse can negatively impact a young person’s life can be illustrated by a conversation I overheard at one of the high schools. One day I witnessed a teacher walk up to a student and ask him what happened. He asked her what she meant. She went on to say, “Up until the end of last year you were a straight A student. You told me you wanted to go to medical school and become a doctor. What happened? Now you’re barely passing your classes.” He told her that he did not know. The truth of the matter is that he got burnt out on drugs.