News: Police to probe ecstasy case at school

[Euphoric]

Police to probe ecstasy case at school

Police will investigate how three students came to take pills suspected to be the party drug ecstasy in the playground of a NSW primary school.


The children - a girl aged 11 and two 10-year-old boys - each took one tablet on Monday during their lunch break at Windang Public School, south of Wollongong.


They were treated at Shellharbour Hospital's emergency department when they became unwell after swallowing the pink or red tablets, before being released.


Police said information indicated the children believed they were eating strawberry lollies.


Chief Inspector Bob Noble said detectives planned to interview the children once they were well enough to find out where the pills came from.


"This is a criminal investigation for the most part focusing on the origin of the tablets and how they came to be in the possession of the students," Insp Noble said.


Insp Noble said police would test other pills found at the school and believed to be from the same batch as those taken by the year five students.


It was clear a criminal offence of some description had occurred, he said.


The parents of the three children were being interviewed.


It is understood the 11-year-old girl offered the tablets to two boys but that they belonged to her elder brother.


Reactions among parents were mixed, with some calling for drug searches and others viewing the incident as a one-off that would act as stark warning against drug use.


The mother of an eight-year-old girl at the school, who identified herself only as Veronica, called on police to work with schools to keep drugs off their premises.


"I think that ... all of the principals should be doing something about it at all schools, including high schools, to check their school bags, check their pockets to get a run on who's getting what from where and stop it," she told Macquarie Radio.


Another parent with a daughter at the school, who wished to remain anonymous, said he did not think the incident would ever be repeated.


"One thing's for sure, the kids at this school are going to be well and truly schooled in the dangers of drugs after this," he told AAP.


The NSW Department of Education and Training commended the way the school handled the situation after the students reported to the front office that they felt giddy and disoriented after taking the tablets.


"The staff at the school deserve to be commended; they have a very good and trusting relationship with the children," a spokesman said.


"If the children hadn't trusted the teachers enough to come forward and report what had happened, we could have been dealing with a very different situation."


Staff and students at the school had been receiving counselling, the spokesman said.


Police notified the Department of Community Services (DoCS) of the incident and caseworkers plan to interview the families and report back to the department, a spokeswoman said.


NSW Premier Morris Iemma and Education Minister John Della Bosca expressed concerned over the episode.


"It was a deeply disturbing incident, children that young with a drug like ecstasy," Mr Iemma said.


A drug expert said the psychological impact on the children of inadvertently taking ecstasy would be greater than any physical trauma.

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