EIGHT S.J. KIDS IN DRUG SCARE

Students Taken From Middle School To Hospitals

Eight San Jose middle school students, ages 12 to 14, were booked on drug
felonies Monday after dividing up a cache of Ecstasy during lunch time and
then showing up high at the nurse's office, authorities said.

The arrests astounded police, physicians, and the community because of the
children's ages, the type of drug involved, and its occurrence at Chaboya
Middle School, which opened in 1991 and three years later became a
California Distinguished School, an honor bestowed on the state's top 5 to
10 percent of schools.

"I didn't think something like that could happen at Chaboya," said Tom
Matsumoto, who serves on the Evergreen School District board. "It's a nice
campus; got a nice staff."

Added officer Rubens Dalaison, police spokesman, "It's unusual because so
many kids . . . were affected by the drug."

The seven boys and one girl who took the synthetic designer drug were taken
by ambulance from Chaboya to local hospitals after experiencing dizziness
and elevated blood pressure.

The boys were released from the hospitals a few hours after arriving. But
the 12-year-old girl, who suffered a worse reaction than the others, was
kept overnight for observation as a precaution at Regional Medical Center,
formerly known as Alexian Brothers Hospital.

The youths face potentially serious charges because the incident occurred
on a school campus, Dalaison said.

Two boys, 12 and 13, were being held at Santa Clara juvenile hall -- one
was booked on suspicion of possessing drugs at a school and the other was
booked on suspicion of trafficking drugs at a school.

The six others were booked on suspicion of taking drugs on campus. They
were cited and released to their parents, Dalaison said.

Besides their legal problems, the students could be expelled or suspended.

If the police allegations are true, the children's experimentation with
Ecstasy is a rare case, health experts said.

"At that age, they're into what we call the `gateway' drugs -- alcohol,
cigarettes and marijuana," said Dan Lloyd, who oversees the clinical
operation for the Children, Adolescent and Family Division of the Santa
Clara County Alcohol and Drug Services Department. "Taking a hallucinogenic
like Ecstasy is out of the realm for kids 12, 13, 14. It's atypical."

Ecstasy was developed in Germany more than 80 years ago for use as an
appetite suppressant but fell into disuse until it was revived by American
researchers in the 1960s for psychotherapy. Patients were said to be more
talkative after taking the drug.

Many who have taken the drug, a stimulant and hallucinogen, describe
feeling a sense of euphoria and well-being, which typically lasts for about
six hours.

Long popular among teens who attend all-night dance parties known as
"raves," Ecstasy sells for $10 to $40 a dose, usually in the form of pills
and tablets.

But the drug exacts a costly toll to a person's health.

"It feels so good that teens think it's benign," said Dr. Lawrence Isaacs
of Santa Clara Valley Medical Center.

"But it's potentially a very dangerous drug. It can cause heart problems,
cerebral problems, bleeding in the brain," Isaacs said. "You can die from
doing too much of this, and there's no real antidote."

Hospital officials at San Jose Medical Center and Regional Med Center
refused to discuss the specific medical conditions of any of the students.

Not in grave danger

But an emergency-room doctor who helped treat the youths said they were
never in grave danger.

"Potentially, if they ingested more than the usual dose, it could be pretty
toxic," said Dr. Tony Yuan. "These kids got lucky. It didn't look like they
had significant toxicities."

School officials learned about the drug usage after the 12-year-old girl,
who was escorted by another student, came into the office under the
influence, Dalaison said.

At 12:52 p.m., San Jose Fire Department paramedics were dispatched to the
46owler Road school's nurse's office, said Rob Piper, battalion chief .

"She didn't answer (questions) appropriately," Piper said.

While attending to her, the other students who had taken the drug trickled
in, Piper said.

Soon, the students began to spill the story: One of the boys had brought
the drug onto campus, giving some of the pills away and selling some,
Dalaison said.

They students had a somewhat cavalier attitude, Piper said.

"They were waving at their friends as they were going into the ambulance,"
he said. "I don't think they realized the seriousness of what could have
happened to them."

But, Piper added, "They did get real quiet when the police department
showed up."

Late Monday, investigators were trying to determine how the student accused
of distributing the drug on the grounds of the 960-student school obtained it.

"We're getting different stories from different (students)," Dalaison said

Students vulnerable

Police, public health, and school officials have long waged an anti-drug
campaign with classroom programs that warn students about the dangers of
taking drugs and the health and legal ramifications.

"Most of the programs are geared toward high schools but there's definitely
a need in that (middle school) age range when they're more vulnerable,"
said Lloyd.

Staff Writers Lori Aratani, Michael Bazeley, Edwin Garcia, Donna Kato and
Joshua Kwan contributed to this report.

Contact Donna Kato at dkato@sjmercury.com or (408) 920-5393 or Rodney Foo
at rfoo@sjmercury.com or (408) 920-5258.