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But I really don’t see the harm in allowing older students (say 12 and up) to have things like asprin or Advil in their backpacks or purses.

I think the trouble may stem from 1) kids bringing parents' Rx drugs w/o premission, OR 2) kids emptying contents of 'gelcaps' and putting in whatever they want, i.e. illegal drug. The way some used to empty tobacco from cigarettes and fill the paper with marijuana so it looked like an ordinary cigarette.

That is the reasoning school officials use for banning any and all drugs- Zero tolerance. Reality is schools were able to handle this sort of thing when I was in school. We were allowed to have our prescriptions and OTC meds, but any suspected illegal drug use and school officials called in police and notified parents to handle it. At some point schools began to take on the role of law enforcement and parents and in many cases refused to call in law enforcement even if a student was caught dead-bang with illegal drugs at school. Students quickly got the message that schools would not report them to LEOs so felt free to possess, use, and distribute drugs at school.

There was an incident at our high school a few years ago when two girls were caught red-handed smoking pot in the bathroom. The school’s reaction was to treat it as a rule infraction and notify parents and suspend the students for 5 days. The mother of one of the girls was a police officer and when she arrived at the school she pointed out that what the girls did was illegal and they should be reported to police and fact those consequences in addition to school actions. The school refused to involve police and she took her own daughter into custody and took her to jail for booking.

Most of the issues with drugs in schools is of their own making- schools need to focus on education and let LEO handle illegal activities. School officials are not trained to deal with illegal activities and they prove it over and over with their wacky responses to the zero tolerance rules.