Principals of all public high schools on American Samoa's main island of Tutuila say they have a drug problem in their schools.
They were speaking at a Senate Committee hearing which was prompted by last week's report that seven Faga'itua High School students were suspended for smoking marijuana.
The seven students had been referred to the Office of the Attorney General.
Catamaran ferries await passengers for Aunu'u island (background) in Au'asi on the east coast of Tutuila in American Samoa on October 2, 2009. Photo: AFP PHOTO / Torsten BLACKWOOD
The hearing was told the drugs were brought to school by the students themselves.
A former Police Commissioner Senator Tuaolo Manaia Fruean has recommended that the government invest in more sniffer dogs to check school gates.
One principal told the hearing that teachers could not search the students school bags as they were not authorised to conduct such searches.