How to say no to drugs

LA CRESCENTA — Education and police officials said hard drugs like Ecstasy and heroin are proliferating at some campuses for the first time, a trend made more disturbing by the fact it is reaching into middle schools.

A student at Rosemont Middle School was taken into custody Sept. 17 for possessing Ecstasy. A week prior, a Crescenta Valley High School student was found with two tablets of LSD, school officials said. Between the incidents, law enforcement officials said some students were experimenting with hard drugs.

“There are a lot of drugs that haven’t been here, and it looks like it’s going to be here for a while,” Steve Toly, a sheriff’s deputy, said at a Crescenta Valley Town Council meeting last week. “We have a lot of kids who are fearless of drugs and willing to try anything.”

Drugs appear to be more prevalent recently in the La Crescenta community rather than within the central, more urban parts of the Glendale Unified School District, law enforcement officials said.

Glendale police, who have jurisdiction over schools within the city, have not made any arrests at school sites this year for drug possession, authorities said.

School administrators said one of the best lines of prevention is information that comes from other students. Officials at Rosemont Middle School and Crescenta Valley High were tipped off to the drug possession by other students.

“Once we investigate, whatever we find we always make parent contact,” said Rosemont Principal Michele Doll. “Our main goal is prevention and to help students involved. Other students and the systems we have in place helps us at the school.”

Both schools have call lines for tips. School administrators encourage callers to leave contact information that would be kept anonymous, but could yield more information through following up.

Law enforcement officials said the police presence at campuses thwarts those who would bring drugs or weapons to class.

“With the way campuses are run and officers they hire and drug education programs that are done, most people know that contraband, drugs, weapons on school campuses is not tolerated,” Glendale Police Sgt. Tom Lorenz said. “If students engage in that activity, they get caught off campus.”

Still, budget cuts have meant less police presence at school campuses, shifting the frontline to educators and student peers.