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Middle School Students Suspended For Drugs

Oct 19, 2007 | Staff | News 2

Seven middle school students have been suspended after prescription drugs were found on campus. School officials said the drug is OxyContin -- a popular painkiller.

School authorities said OxyContin isn't hard to get -- it is widely prescribed. But when officials found it on school property, they wanted to send a clear message to the students involved and to everyone else on campus that it will not be tolerated.

Kimber Ledonne has a son who will be going to middle school next year and she said she's not surprised that kids have drugs on campus.

"The way things are these days you're going to have it in any school," said Ledonne.

Seven students have been suspended from Little Mill Middle School for knowing about, having or selling OxyContin at school. OxyContin is a slow-release narcotic painkiller that comes in a pill form. But on the street, it's crushed and snorted, causing a powerful and fast high.

"It's probably in 50 percent of the homes or more in any community. So I would imagine it's easily accessible to students whether it's their parents' prescriptions or their family members or their own," said Bruce Wagar, Forsyth County Director of School Safety.

School officials are not saying where the students got the prescription drugs or how much they had but they do say they are aggressively investigating the case.

"We just have to be as educators, parents, and adults, very vigilant," said Wagar.

"You just hope that you've talked to them enough that they don't do something wrong," said Ledonne.

The seven students are now suspended and will be facing a disciplinary tribunal in the next few days.