TEENS OVERDOSE AT SCHOOL 14 RUSHED TO VALLEY'S 2 HOSPITALS.

Byline: Greg Botonis Staff Writer

LANCASTER - At least 14 high school students were taken to hospitals Wednesday after swallowing prescription pills used to treat hyperactivity disorder, officials said.

Authorities at Antelope Valley High School confiscated pills from at least a dozen students. Estimates on the number of Ritalin pills ranged from 150 to 800. Some other types of pills and cigarettes were also confiscated.

``We don't have any idea where they got (these),'' Principal Mark Bryant said about the Ritalin pills. ``They weren't in a prescription bottle. They were brought in several sandwich baggies.''

Three of the hospitalized teens had experienced nausea, fatigue and vomiting, authorities said. The others were taken as a precautionary measure.

Full recovery was expected for all.

Investigators said at least two teens are suspected of bringing the pills to school, giving some away and selling some.

One was transported to the hospital. The other was released to her parents and will be questioned later by sheriff's deputies, officials said.

Deputies said they intend to seek criminal charges against whoever brought the pills onto the campus.

Some of the teens took the pills during the school's 9-11 memorial service, one student said.

Three ambulances, three fire engine companies and a paramedic squad were sent to the school, where news helicopters circled overhead after word spread of the mass overdose.

Students started getting sick around 8:30 a.m., school officials said. Then authorities began tracking down other teens who had taken pills.

Before lunch, school officials announced over the intercom that any teens who had taken pills should come to the office and that they would face no discipline. At least three students took up the offer, officials said.

Ritalin is a relatively mild stimulant prescribed frequently for children diagnosed with hyperactivity or attention-deficit disorder. But in too-heavy doses, medical personnel say, it can cause convulsions, hallucinations, irregular heartbeats and the sensation that bugs or worms are crawling under the skin.

Ritalin has been used unsafely for years by drug abusers who want to get high, authorities say. Some crush it to snort like cocaine or dissolve it in water to inject it intravenously like heroin.

Some of the students interviewed by school officials admitted to swallowing a handful of pills, while others said they had taken only a few.

Although Wednesday was the first day school officials had heard about the pills being brought on campus, 17-year-old Josh Porter said he believes they had been circulating around campus since Tuesday.

Porter said a friend fainted in the gymnasium during a first-period physical-education class after swallowing a handful of the pills along with LSD, sleeping pills and the sedative Vicodin.

``He just passed out and his eyes were rolled up in his head,'' Porter said. ``That's when I went and got security (personnel).''

Three other students took the Ritalin and Vicodin at the same time, but not as much, he said.

Before his friend passed out, Porter said, he had told a teacher that his friend had taken pills. But the teacher told him the boy was allowed to take pills for a back problem, Porter said.

The teens who swallowed the pills were given activated charcoal, which absorbs the contents of their stomachs and keeps the drug from getting into the bloodstream, fire officials said.

Some teens were taken to Lancaster Community Hospital and others to Antelope Valley Hospital.

School officials said anyone involved in distributing the pills will be disciplined, based on the level of involvement. First offenders could face suspension or transfer to another school, while second offenders will be expelled. Offenders also could face criminal charges.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) Paramedics check on Antelope Valley High students in an ambulance on Wednesday.

(2 -- ran in AV edition only) A firefighter and a deputy direct traffic Wednesday in front of Antelope Valley High, where some teens overdosed on pills.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer