School dealing with 2nd prescription drug incident this month

CASTLE ROCK - Police Chief Tony Lane told 9NEWS a student brought Vicodin to school Monday and gave it to another student.

Lieutenant Tim Gorman with Castle Rock Police told 9NEWS a boy who attends Castle Rock Middle School brought three pills from home onto a school bus. Gorman said the 13-year-old 7th grader took them from his father's prescription at home.

"The 7th grader allegedly gave three pills of Vicodin to a 10th grader who he'd met on the school bus as a means to impress her," said Gorman.

According to Gorman, the student gave all three pills to a 15-year-old 10th grade girl who rides the bus but attends Castle View High School; the same school where 11 students were expelled earlier this month after bringing and taking Oxycodone. A police report indicates that the 15-year-old did not ask for the pills but instead the 13-year-old was trying to get in "good graces" as he had heard that she does drugs.

Gorman said the 10th grader gave one of the pills to a 14-year-old 8th grade boy she met in a hallway of Castle View High School "to help with his headache." Police said the 8th grader didn't take the pill.

During second period, the 10th grader told a female friend about the remaining pills, offering one to her but the friend declined, according to Gorman.

Police were able to recover one of the three pills after searching the 15-year-old. The third pill has not been recovered and the girl claims she only received two pills but police say other evidence, besides the 7th grader's statements, indicate she did in fact receive three pills.

School officials contacted police after a student came forward with the information.

"Students know and trust the adults in the building. They're not afraid or concerned to come to an adult and tell them when something is wrong. That doesn't necessarily have to be about drugs, it can be about a student who is having a hard time," said Larry Borland, the executive director for safety and transportation for the Douglas County School District.

Gorman said the students involved have been suspended. He also said the police department plans to recommend similar criminal charges against these students, as those recommended against 11 students in the previous incident on Feb. 8.

The Douglas County District Attorney is looking at whether to charge one student with distribution and the others with possession of a controlled substance.

"This is another situation where adults and parents really need to have conversations with kids about the dangers of this kind of behavior," said Whei Wong, spokesperson for Douglas County schools, "It's dangerous and potentially fatal and we as adults need to stop students' access to prescription meds."

Wong couldn't confirm that the students had been suspended, but Borland said the district's code of conduct does allow for the students to be expelled.

"The primary thing we want to get out is how dangerous it is to be taking medication in dosages that are not prescribed to you," said Borland.

Borland says parents may want to child-proof their medicine cabinets.

"There is a drug problem in every school in the nation," he said. "If we have one child who is engaged in the abuse of narcotics, we've got a problem. The problem we have in Douglas County is no different than the problems that are elsewhere along the Front Range. None of us are immune from this problem."

"In one sense you want to be able to trust your kids, that they use the right amount of common sense," said Gorman. "(But) you got to be able to protect your pharmaceutical prescriptions because it's obviously getting to be a bigger issue than we originally thought."