SCHOOL DRUG POLICIES COULD HARM ASTHMATICS- REPORT

CHICAGO - Anti-drug policies at many U.S. schools could
prevent students who suffer asthmatic attacks from reaching their
inhalers quickly, researchers said Tuesday.

"Too often in California we're seeing situations in which an asthmatic
child's inhaler is locked up in a drawer in the school office -- and
the key to that drawer is with the vice principal, who isn't even in
the building that day," said Michael Welch, a San Diego physician on
the allergy and immunology panel of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

He was quoted in an article on the subject published in the September
issue of the AAP News, the group's news magazine.

"As pediatricians, we need to advocate for schoolchildren on this
issue," he added. "Almost no one dies of inhaler abuse; they die
because they're having a severe asthma attack and they're not being
treated."

The article said there are an estimated four million students in the
United States with asthma. It said many schools have a zero-tolerance
policy that bans the carrying of any drugs.

The article suggested that doctors should write letters on behalf of
their patients to schools with strict anti-drug policies seeking
permission for them to carry medicine.

The inhalers contain bronchdilators such as albuterol which relax the
lungs.