15 PUPILS ILL AS GIRL HANDS OUT MORPHINE TABLETS

A fleet of ambulances took children to hospital yesterday after 15 of
them swallowed up to seven morphine tablets each at a comprehensive
school.

A dozen of the teenagers remained in Southampton General Hospital
overnight after the flood of admissions put the accident and emergency
department under extreme pressure. A girl whose mother is dying of
cancer took the opiates, prescribed as painkillers, to the 740-pupil
Chamberlayne Park School and handed them to 15- and 16-year-olds
during lessons.

A teacher raised the alarm just before lunch when a number of pupils
became drowsy. Nine girls, including the 16-year-old who handed out
the tablets, and a boy were taken to hospital immediately. Five others
were admitted later. The potentially deadly tablets can cause nausea,
breathing difficulties and heart problems.

Peter Campion, a spokesman for the hospital, said: "They had all taken
the same drug, morphine sulphate. Twelve of them will be kept in
overnight. This is stretching our resources and we are trying to find
bed space in our child health department."

John Smith, a Southampton education spokesman, said: "The school acted
very promptly and properly." The police had been told and warning
letters were being sent to the parents of all the pupils.