Sarah Moses
Cumberland Times-News
October 26, 2008 01:22 am
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OAKLAND — Police and school officials continue to try to reduce the illegal use of prescription pills in Garrett County schools, as these tend to be the drug of choice for most school-age students.
“This year we’re down so far,” Rob Zimmerman of the Garrett County Narcotics Task Force said, “but in school, especially middle school, it’s just easy. They’re easy to get and easy to hide.”
Zimmerman told members of the Drug and Alcohol Abuse Council that it is surprising not only in the amount of the prescription drugs found in the schools but the reasons that some students distribute them. Some, he said, will tell police they didn’t distribute the pills for money but to make friends with another student.
Phil Lauver, supervisor of pupil services for the Garrett County Board of Education, said alcohol use also is a problem the school system must tackle.
Huffing fumes from paint, aerosol and gasoline also remains a popular way for students to get high, Zimmerman said.
However, he said the sheriff’s office is working to adjust the way of detecting drugs in schools to guarantee more students are caught.
The task force began bringing drug-detection dogs into the classroom after realizing students were taking their book bags with them to class, rather than leaving them in their lockers. Students had to clear the room but leave their belongings in the room prior to the search.
The issue of prescription drugs was not the only concern. Lauver said based on changes in state code, all boards of education have been forced to make changes to their regulations involving over-the-counter medication.
In Garrett County, parents must have a written prescription from a doctor for the schools to distribute medication such as Tylenol or aspirin.
Rodney Glotfelty, director of the county health department, said this might prove to be more of a deterrent than an incentive for parents to have their children receive over-the-counter medicine. Glotfelty said he thought parents may not want to go through the extra steps and simply give their children aspirin or another medicine to take for a headache.
To do so would go against school policy, even for students who have turned 18, Lauver said. If the student doesn’t have a written prescription allowing the school to give this medicine, even as a written instruction from the doctor to carry through the whole school year, the student will not receive any over-the-counter drugs from the health nurse.
It is possible for a parent to come in and administer the medicine if there is no written physician consent.
Glotfelty said there would be “a lot more absenteeism” if this were the case.
Contact Sarah Moses at smoses@times-news.com.
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