Student Arrested For Supplying Xanax to Teens at Pinole Valley High School

Police arrested a 17-year-old student Tuesday in connection with an incident at Pinole Valley High School last week that landed five students in the hospital. All had taken Xanax. Two others took the prescription medication but did not need hospitalization.

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Pinole police said their officers, along with the city’s firefighters and American Medical Response, responded at 12:30 p.m. last Thursday to reports of several students at the school who were behaving strangely. Officers found that seven students, ranging from grades 10 to 12, were intoxicated after taking the prescription drug Xanax, which is used to treat anxiety.

All of them were treated at the scene and five had to be taken to the hospital, police said.

The school district’s officials said on Friday that they were expected to return to good health.

Police conducted an investigation with the help of school administrators that identified a student, who is not being named due to the teen’s age, suspected of distributing the Xanax. The student was arrested on suspicion of furnishing, administering or giving away a controlled substance and for willful disruption of a public school, and was booked into juvenile hall.

Police said the case is still under investigation and no further information will be released at this time.

Anyone with information that could aid the investigation is asked to call Pinole detectives at (510) 724-8950.

--Bay City News; Image via Shutterstock