3 STUDENTS TREATED AFTER INGESTING PILLS

Principal: Five Eighth-Graders At Hickory Hills Involved In Drug Incident.

Three eighth-grade Hickory Hills Middle School girls were rushed to a
hospital Thursday after apparently ingesting prescription drugs.

The three - including one who reportedly brought the pills to school - were
treated and released Thursday afternoon from Cox Medical Center North,
officials said.

"It's serious. You can tell them to say no all you want but often the
person who offers them drugs is a friend or a friend of a friend,"
Principal Kelly Allison said. "It's not some guy standing in a long trench
coat in a dark corner. It's really never like that - it's someone you know."

Allison said a total of five students face disciplinary action in the
matter including a 10-day suspension. The eighth-grade girl suspected of
providing the prescription drugs - considered a controlled substance in the
district's zero-tolerance policy - faces a suspension of up to 180 days.

The medication was prescribed to treat seizures, said Tom Lindsey, deputy
director of school security.

"It was a scheduled narcotic so it's handled as a law violation," said
Lindsey, who didn't release the name of the prescription drug. "Students
cannot possess a controlled drug at school. They could not only hurt
themselves but pass it out to others and serious side effects could happen
from allergies to an overdose."

The possible 10-day suspensions may be reduced to five days if students
agree to counseling. The students - four girls and a boy - may be notified
of the disciplinary action as early as today.

"It's all in process," Allison said. "We'll talk to parents and let them
know the outcome."

An hour before school dismissed at 2:45 p.m., Allison noticed a girl acting
ill and disoriented in the hallway. He quickly walked her to the nurse's
office and starting asking questions.

"She wasn't throwing up but she didn't look well," he said. "She started
talking and we looked for the others. They appeared to be a little
light-headed, dizzy and had slurred speech."

Staff members called an ambulance and the parents of all five eighth-grade
students.

"The parents were notified," Allison said. "They were all surprised."

Students were briefly interviewed by school officials and security officers
Thursday.

"We will have the opportunity to sit down with them later," Allison said.
"The saddest part is that for a few of the kids, they will be heroes. When
they come back, everyone will ask them what happened."

Many Hickory Hills students participate in an anti-drug campaign. Health
classes also discuss and warn against the dangers of drugs.

School officials said there's been a slight boost in marijuana violations
this year. But infractions involving prescription drugs are stable.

"It's not uncommon that we have an incident once a year where several
students are involved," Lindsey said. "But there isn't a trend."

Elizabeth Page, PTA president at Hickory Hills, said the reported drug
violations Thursday took her by surprise.

"You have a group, a percentage of kids, who do make these choices," Page
said. "You try to talk to them and try to be up front with them but it's hard."

Page said parents are vital to the anti-drug campaign.

"We've talked about it since they were little bitty," she said. "I've taken
a very hard line approach that it's very ridiculous, it can be harmful to
your health and it could take future choices away from you."

Melissa Haddow, executive director of Community Partnership of the Ozarks
and involved in anti-drug information campaigns, said experimentation with
prescription drugs can lead to other substances.

"It can start with something as innocuous as a No Doze, an over-the-counter
type of pill," Haddow said. "But if they like that feeling they are more
than likely to move on to harder things."

She is worried that kids don't know the impact of drugs.

"They are playing with fire," Haddow said. "These drugs can have serious
effects if you take too many of them and you don't know what you are doing."

If it is not an isolated incident, they will launch a campaign to educate
students, Haddow said.

Haddow offered a warning to parents. "You need to keep those things locked
up or on your person," Haddow said. "Kids will experiment and they don't
know what they are doing."

News-Leader reporter Angela Wilson contributed information to this story.