DRUG-FREE SAFETY ZONE

New Jersey Statute 2C:35-1.1 was developed by the legislature as a result of a determined effort to create a drug-free safety zone extending to 1,000 feet from the property line of each of New Jersey’s schools and from each school bus. This legislation calls for mandatory penalties for students under age 18 who distribute, dispense, or possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance in this safety zone as outlined in 2C:35-10, 15, 16:

  1. Payment of a penalty of $500.00

  2. Mandatory requirement to perform not less than 100 hours of community service

  3. Revocation of driving privileges for a period of six months. If the offender is under 17 years of age, the six-month suspension of driving privileges does not take effect until the student reaches his/her seventeenth birthday.

These penalties are established by statute and are above and beyond any school discipline which may include suspension, expulsion, or any other school penalty imposed by the district. Adults, inclusive of students 18 or over, who violate New Jersey Statute 2C:35-5a while inside the 1,000-foot safety zone must be sentenced to a minimum term of three years without parole. A minimum term of one year without parole is mandated if the distribution is less than 25 grams of marijuana or less than 5 grams of hashish.