North Bay parents warned about prescription drug overdoses
MARIN COUNTY, Calif. (KTVU) -- Authorities in the North Bay are warning parents about incidents in the last two weeks where at least five Marin County high school students suffered an overdose and were taken to the hospital.
It's no secret that some people use medications to get high, but these dangerous so-called "Skittles parties" are taking the practice to a whole different level.
Tamalpais School District spokeswoman Tara Taupier told KTVU the most recent incidents happened last week at Mt. Tamalpais High School.
"We were alerted by teachers that students seemed off or not feeling well," said Taupier.
Paramedics were called and the students were taken to the hospital.
In all, three students fell ill at Mount Tam and two others at Sir Francis Drake High.
"I don't know that there was a Skittle party going on during the school day. From what we heard, one of the students may have ingested what her friends were calling cough pills," said Taupier.
Mt. Tam senior James Grunigen told KTVU he had heard about the drug parties.
"I have talked to a few people who've been to these Skittle parties," said Grunigen.
A Skittle party or pill party is apparently where a group of students get ahold of prescription drugs, sometimes by raiding their parents medicine cabinet and putting them all into a single bowl to randomly sample.
Mt. Tam senior Kent Sawyer told KTVU he didn't understand the thinking of students who participate.
"Just taking random pills is an extremely dumb thing to do and incredibly dangerous," said Sawyer.
Students say it's been going on for at least a year, but some parents are just now learning about it, including Jeff Stewart. He was attending a sporting event at Mt. Tam with his daughter Jessica who attends San Marin High in Novato.
"It just sounds like Russian roulette," said Stewart. "It's bad enough to take drugs when you know what they are. When you don't know what they are, you don't even know what to tell the doctor the stupid thing you did."
His daughter Jessica agreed.
"It's crazy. I never would have thought people would do that," said Jessica.
The Marin County Health Department said 27 people died of drug poisoning deaths in the county in 2013, adding: "This is an important reminder for us to have conversations with our children early and often about the potential harms of medications."
Amy Utstein said her daughter attends Mt. Tam. She received an email notification from the school district about the overdoses and took action.
"It's one more piece of information for parenting I'd say, so I had a conversation with my daughter and it was useful," explained Utstein.
The five students who overdosed this month are going to be OK.
Stewart, who is originally from the Midwest, wondered why kids who live in such beautiful surroundings would even consider drugs.
"Go to the beach. Go to the mountains. Go sailing. Don't have a Skittles party," said Stewart.
But Mt. Tam student Sawyer told KTVU peer pressure can be intimidating.
"I don't often get talked into it, but I do consider it, I know I do. It's just instinct," he told KTVU.
When asked if he would now consider going to a Skittle party in the wake of the overdoses, Sawyer said, "Off the table. No thank you."
Over the counter cough syrups can also be abused. Some contain Coricidin, also known as Triple "C".
KTVU found these products on an unlocked shelf at the Safeway across the street from the school.
The check-out clerk told KTVU customers do not have to be 18 to buy it.