John Marshall Students Taken To OKC Hospitals After Sharing Prescription Drugs

News9.com

OKLAHOMA CITY -- School officials said eight female students at John Marshall Mid-High School had to be taken to the hospital after sharing prescription drugs.

Two students went to the nurse's office Friday morning, saying they felt dizzy. The nurse noticed they also had slurred speech and were drowsy.

The nurse sent an email to all staff members asking them to look for students with similar symptoms. Six more students were identified as having similar issues.

Two students were taken by their parents to local hospitals. Ambulances transported the other six students. All of the students are in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades.

The school has not identified the students and has not released any information on their conditions.

Police have not confirmed what prescriptions the girls took, but doctors say parents and guardians need to safeguard their medications to prevent something like this from happening.

"They need to be locked up and not available because it has become a fad that the most common medicines that children abuse are often prescription medicine that are obtained legally by the parents but picked up by the kids and taken to parties or shared at school and cause significant problems," said Dr. Matt Dowell from Mercy Santa Fe.

There will be an assembly at the school to address the issue. The district is also encouraging parents and guardians to talk to their children.

It is unclear if any charges will be filed in this incident.