CALIFORNIA POLICE SAY LSD WAS TAKEN BY SCHOOL KIDS

LOS ANGELES -- The little girl suddenly began laughing loudly to
herself, disrupting her fourth-grade journal-writing lesson. Her
teacher asked her to begin writing, but all she could do was scribble.

It wasn't a case of the giggles. Authorities say she had brought LSD
to school, eaten some and passed it out to fellow students.

Soon the 9- and 10-year-old students were showing symptoms ranging
from dizziness to nausea and hallucinations.

Some were hospitalized but all had been released yesterday. Detectives
found traces of LSD in three children but none of the illicit drug in
the systems of the other 10, police said.

Hundreds of parents met with administrators at the San Fernando Valley
school yesterday morning to hear what officials knew of the incident.

"You must remind your children never touch anything dangerous or
unusual," Principal Loraine Mason told the group.

Police said they believe the girl found a box containing a powder and
a vial of liquid in a box near her home on the way to school. Police
Lt. Rick Papke said some of the children ingested the substance, while
others licked it.

"They were completely disoriented, acting irrationally," Papke said.
"Their symptoms were of those who had ingested a controlled
substance." In a strange twist, the class where children passed the
drug had been scheduled to receive an anti-drug lesson yesterday.

Los Angeles school students are instructed in the DARE anti-drug
program from fifth grade on, but police officers sporadically drop in
on younger classes with lessons and cautions against drugs.

Checked-by: Patrick Henry