Four male Lower Lake High Schools students ages 15 and 16 were arrested for possession and sales of a controlled substance last week, Clearlake police recently confirmed. The felony charges were later reduced to misdemeanor charges of possession and sale of a prescribed drug.
The four teens were selling a prescription muscle relaxer to other students for a dollar per pill, according to a press release from the Clearlake Police Department.
School Resource Officer Carl Miller arrested the first of the four teens, who was under the influence of the drug at the time, on Wednesday, May 7.
“He (the first arrest) was cited and released so he could obtain medical treatment,” Lt. Mike Hermann said.
“At this time, it is believed that one student is responsible for bringing approximately 50 pills to school and splitting them with the other subjects who assisted in selling them,” according to a press statement.
Approximately 32 were sold “within the last several days” of the release.
“After school let out yesterday, a student was reported ill. At that point, we had no idea why, only that a student was reported ill. Then parents came in this morning and reported they had taken their children to the hospital,” Konocti Unified School District Assistant Superintendent Cliff Lantz said Thursday, May 8.
Three female LLHS students were found to be under the influence of the drug Wednesday and two of them were taken to Redbud Community Hospital for drug overdoses, according to the release.
Three teens were arrested Thursday on charges of selling and distributing the pills, and were booked at Juvenile Hall.
“Frankly, drugs are always a problem on a high school campus. We have a crew of campus supervisor specialists trained to watch for any behavior of A, students using drugs or B, selling them,” Lantz said.
Out of an average of three expulsion hearings per month involving students who used drugs on campus, Lantz said the majority involve marijuana. He said incidents involving prescription drugs are relatively rare.
“I suspect this was a fairly isolated incident involving a close group of friends. Usually, that”s what it is somebody buys, steals or finds something and shares it with their friends,” Lantz said.
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