TEEN FACES CHARGES IN SCHOOL DRUG CASE

JUNCTION CITY - A 16-year-old girl has been arrested on charges of
supplying eight fellow Junction City High School students - including
her younger sister - with prescription pills that caused each to fall
ill.

The girl was taken to the Lane County Juvenile Justice Center on
Monday where she faced five counts each of possession of a controlled
substance and delivery of a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of
a school, police said.

She was released Tuesday into the custody of her mother and placed
under house arrest.

The students - eight girls and one boy ages 14 to 16 - told police
that they believed they were taking Valium. But they in fact ingested
either Clonazepam, a small green pill used to treat panic disorders or
seizures, or Clozapine, a yellow pill used to treat schizophrenia,
said Officer Michael Bonner, the school's resource officer.

"This group of kids took either green or yellow or a combination of
both," he said. "The purpose of taking them was to feel the effects
without drinking alcohol - to get high. No one was forced to ingest
them."

The episode unfolded Thursday when school officials found a student,
the 14-year-old sister of the girl arrested, wandering the hallways of
the school being disruptive and visibly intoxicated, police said.

All nine students - three of whom were found on school grounds - were
rushed to Sacred Heart Medical Center after officials discovered they
were suffering varying degrees of symptoms: slurred speech, impaired
mobility, grogginess and despondency.

All but the 14-year-old girl were treated and released Thursday, and
several students left the hospital against the advice of hospital
officials, police said. The younger sister, whom police said swallowed
17 to 21 pills, was released from Sacred Heart on Friday.

The students were suspended pending an expulsion hearing, and the
school's 700 students were notified of the situation, a school
spokeswoman said.

The students denied taking the pills, but it was "blatantly obvious"
that they had, Bonner said.

"I don't think if you asked them what color (they took) they had no
idea," he said. "They just took a pill and popped it, and that's the
scary part ... taking a pill and not knowing what it is."

Investigators suspect the medication may have been prescribed to a
parent of one of the students involved, Bonner said.

Kenn Meneely, an Oregon State Police criminalist, said prescription
medication abuse is not uncommon and that sedatives are gaining
popularity among young people.

"We're in for a new wave of drugs in our community," he said. "It's
like a tidal wave coming through."

Clonazepam and other sedatives commonly called "date rape" drugs have
started turning up at raves, all-night dance parties in secret
locations such as warehouses and rural properties, he said.

"It makes them impaired, similar to a DUI situation where they can't
walk straight or drive ... it effects motor function and speech," he
said. "People take these drugs in combinations. They start with a
stimulant or a hallucinogenic then move to a depressant to mellow the
high."

A lot of kids who buy these drugs are told that they simulate an
"out-of-body experience," Meneely said. But medicines in the
benzodiazepine family can alter a person's state of mind and depress
motor skills - even respiratory functions.

"So, you can become comatose," Meneely said. "There's no guarantee
you'll have the perfect effect. It's like you can drink a cup of
coffee and be just fine, but I can drink a cup of coffee and have the
jitters. When people start mixing drugs, things can get serious, he
said.

"They're probably really fortunate that no one died," Meneely said.