Pocono News Section

Poconos Schools Deal with Drug Problem

Poconos Schools Deal with Drug Problem - Tuesday, April 29, 2008 at 4:01PM EST

Reported by: Laurie Monteforte
Tuesday, Apr 29, 2008 @ 04:01pm EST
MILFORD, PIKE COUNTY - A nationwide problem is hitting home in the Poconos. Students are taking prescription drugs from medicine cabinets and putting them in their backpacks.

There is an unwelcome guest in the halls of Delaware Valley High School. Prescription drugs hidden in backpacks, tucked away in lockers, slid across the lunch table. "Kids are just inclined to bring drugs to school and sell them to their friends for fun," said Senior Ryan Kelly.

Over the past few weeks, he's seen ten of his friends expelled for brining illegal prescriptions to school. Ryan said, "It's not anything like totally ridiculous like the hard core drugs you get out there on the street from a drug dealer."

Many students agree with Ryan and that worries school leaders. Superintendent Doctor Candis Finan explained, "We have students who are allergic. If they took a particular prescription they could die and they don't even know what's in the pills they are taking."

In the past several weeks three students took too much and had to be taken away by ambulance. About twenty students will face expulsion hearings from their use of prescription drugs in school. "Wow, I can't believe so many kids do drugs in school," said Senior Anthony Retallick.

To stop the problem, the district and the local police department sent warning letters to every parent. "We cannot risk a child's life. We cannot have them make a bad decision," said Finan.

School officials also held drug danger classes. And later this week they'll hold a drug awareness assembly. "They've started to do a really good job of putting efforts toward combating this," said Senior Brian Mattos.

And those efforts are just the beginning of a long fight to keep prescription drugs out of the hallos and inside medicine cabinets. Students who are expelled can't go back to school for at least four months. The school reminds people that while 20 expulsions sounds like a lot, it's a small percentage. About 2,100 students attend Delaware Valley High School.