LIVERPOOL -- Two Liverpool High School students are facing charges after police say one of them was giving out morphine to other students.
Officers were called to the Liverpool High School Annex at 4340 Wetzel Road in Clay around 9:00am Wednesday morning. School officials called police after reports several students had 60mg pills of morphine. Police say there were reports some of the students were selling the pills.
After an investigation, officers arrested two 14-year-old female students on drug charges. Officers say one of them had been bringing her mother's morphine pills to school for the past few days and handing them out. On Monday and Tuesday, three students got sick after taking the pills.
One teen is charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance near school grounds, criminal possession of a controlled substance and criminal sale of a controlled substance. The other teen is charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance. Their names are not being released because of their age. The teens were issued tickets to appear in Family Court and released into the custody of their parents.
The Annex houses all freshman students. It is on the other side of of the athletic field from the main High School building.
This is the third recent incident involving high school students accused of bringing prescription drugs to local schools. Earlier this month a 16-year-old from Fulton was accused of trying to sell morphine pills at Hannibal High School and last March a 17-year-old was accused of bringing Oxycontin to Paul V. Moore High School in Central Square.
Dr. Alexander Garrard from SUNY Upstate's Poison Control Center says Morphine and Oxycontin can be dangerous and even deadly if used incorrectly. Garrard said the risk is even higher for children.
"With kids it can be a lot more dangerous because they don't weigh as much as we do so the effects of the drug can be a lot stronger on them than for an average adult," said Garrard.
