Police nip WHS Rx drug ring
By Melanie Davis
melanie@mountaintimes.com

Ambulances were called to Watauga High School just before noon on Thursday when two students suffered severe reactions to unprescribed medication.

The two 14-year-old females had taken Adderol, a drug commonly used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Neither were prescribed the drug.

One was transported to Watauga Medical Center via Watauga Medics where, according to Boone police officers, she was treated and released. The other student was picked up at the school by her parents.
Bill Hartley Jr., the school resource officer through the Boone Police Department, immediately began an investigation as to how the two students obtained the medication.

As a result, seven students were charged with criminal offenses, five under the age of 16 as well as one 16 year old and one 17 year old. Two of the students were charged with felony drug offenses, including possession with intent to sell and/or deliver a schedule II controlled substance (Adderall) and delivery of a schedule II controlled substance.

Other charges included possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, obstructing and/or delaying justice, misdemeanor possession of a schedule II controlled substance.

Hartley said one of the students charged was also in possession of a razor blade, which is a violation of the school's weapons policy. The identities of juvenile offenders were not released.

Hartley said prescription drug abuse is an ongoing problem in high schools across the nation. “Watauga is no exception,” he added.

“Students abuse and/or distribute prescriptions they are prescribed, or those found at home in their medicine cabinets,” Hartley said.

Of the students at Watauga High, according to Hartley, a vast majority are good students, there for their education. He credits them in assisting himself and the school's officials to control student drug use.

“The kids are helpful in telling us when they see something unusual and I follow up on that information,” he said.

“It is a minority that make bad choices.”

School officials could not be reached for comment.