SIXTEEN MAHOMET STUDENTS EXPELLED FOR PRESCRIPTION DRUG OFFENSES

MAHOMET, Ill.- Sixteen high school students have been expelled after school
officials, acting on a tip from a parent, broke up a prescription drug ring
that sold Ritalin and painkillers.

The Mahomet-Seymour High School students were caught in the past two weeks
with some combination of Ritalin, given to children with attention deficit
disorder, and the addictive painkillers OxyContin and Hydrocodone.

Superintendent John Alumbaugh said students were selling their own
medication, their parents' medication or drugs acquired from siblings.

"We had this going on right under our nose," Principal Del Ryan said. "We
didn't know it was occurring. I tend to be a very visible principal."

Four weeks ago, Ryan got a call from a parent concerned his son had taken
OxyContin from the parent's medicine cabinet to sell at school.

That parent and another gave Ryan a list of students they thought were
involved. The following week, Ryan said he interviewed between 30 and 40
students and started charting the distribution network.

"I give the parents all of the credit for being concerned about the safety
and well-being of the students," Ryan said. "They weren't concerned about
what was going to happen to their sons. ... Had it not been for parents
that Friday night, we would not have had any information about this."

Seven of the students were expelled for the rest of this year and all of
next year. The rest were expelled for this year and will be put on
disciplinary probation next year.

The Mahomet Police Department would not say whether any of the students had
been charged and referred questions to the school. Ryan said Friday he did
not know whether any of the students had been charged. The state's attorney
office did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Ritalin is easy for students to obtain because it is often prescribed to
calm young children with attention deficit disorder. As people get older,
the drug acts as a stimulant.

OxyContin, a time-release version of Oxycodone, is widely prescribed for
victims of moderate to severe chronic pain resulting from arthritis, back
trouble or cancer. But those who abuse the drug crush it, then snort or
inject it, producing a quick, heroin-like high.

Ryan and Alumbaugh both plan to launch new education efforts for parents as
well as students. Ryan plans to meet with each class at the beginning of
next school year to give them all the details of what happened and
hopefully get them involved in solving the drug problem.

Morris Mosley, a youth counselor at Prairie Center for Substance Abuse,
suggested the school have drug counselors easily accessible for students to
talk to about their problems or those of a friend. He also said drugs
should be a regular agenda item for school safety committees.

"It should be: What are we hearing in other schools and what are we doing
about that here?" Mosley said. "If other schools have had a problem, kids
have already heard about it."