Two LHS students arrested for drugs

Reece Murphy
rmurphy@thelancasternews.com
Police arrested two juveniles at Lancaster High School last month after they were caught with a commonly abused prescription drug.
School officials called the school resource office about 1 p.m. Nov. 19 in regards to a 15-year-old male student who had been caught with eight and a half “Xanax bars.”
The 2-milligram, elongated pills, which can be broken into four portions, are the highest dosage of the prescription drug alprazolam, sold under the trade name Xanax.
According to a Lancaster Police Department incident report, the 15-year-old boy told assistant principals during questioning that a friend in first block gave him “nine or 10” of the pills. The report makes no further mention of the student who allegedly gave the student the pills.
The boy said he later sold one of the pills for $3 to a 14-year-old fellow student after she asked him for a “downer.” The girl admitted to buying the pill when confronted by school officials, although her account differed as to who approached whom.
Though the redacted arrest report was not clear as to why, the girl said she threw half of her pill away in a second-floor restroom trash can where it was later recovered by the school resource officer.
The students were arrested and taken to the Lancaster Municipal Justice Center. The boy faces a charge of distributing a controlled substance and the girl faces a drug-possession charge, the report said.
The report said Department of Juvenile Justice affidavits were filed on both students and they were released to their parents.
Akin to Valium, Xanax is among the most widely prescribed drugs for the treatment of anxiety disorders such as panic attacks.
The drug is commonly misused as a recreational drug and can become addictive with severe withdrawal symptoms when abused.

Contact reporter Reece Murphy at (803) 283-1151