Boy Collapses In Class ‘After Buying Drugs From Pupil In Playground’

A boy aged 13 collapsed in his classroom after taking drugs he allegedly bought from a fellow pupil in the playground, it emerged yesterday. The youngster, who attends a school in Lanarkshire, is t to have become ill shortly after swallowing three diazepam pills.

He was taken by ambulance to Hairmyres Hospital in East Kilbride and released after treatment. A 16-year-old boy has since been charged with selling drugs to him and has been suspended from the school.

News of the boy’s collapse emerged two weeks after the Scottish Executive published a report calling for drugs education in schools to be made more relevant to pupils’ experiences.

Ministers have since announced plans to arrange for former drug addicts to be taken into secondary schools to warn pupils about the dangers of substance abuse. Video links will be set up to allow young offenders on drug education programmes to talk directly to pupils about their experiences.

One drugs expert last night said the Lanarkshire incident proved there was an urgent need for improvements in the education pupils received. Alastair Ramsay, the chairman of Drugwise, a company that offers advice and support on drugs to the business, sport and education sectors, said: “We shouldn’t be surprised that on occasions drugs appear in schools, because schools reflect society.

“The dilemma the school has is how to deal with a situation like this appropriately. Do they suspend everybody concerned, or do they try to adopt a caring attitude?

“The question has got to be, what drug education has this boy had, because he should have known better than to buy and take substances when he was not aware what the effects were going to be.”

Superintendent Ian Callander, of Strathclyde Police, confirmed an investigation was under way into the incident, which happened on 8 March.

He said: “It is believed the boy took some kind of substance prior to collapse. A 16-year-old youth is subject of a report to the procurator-fiscal in connection with this matter.”

The teenager is due to appear in court later this month. A spokesman for the local authority involved said: “We can confirm that a pupil was taken to hospital as a precautionary measure after allegedly taking an unknown substance. The police have confirmed that a fourth-year pupil is the subject of an investigation.”

Parents’ groups and politicians reacted with dismay. Judith Gillespie, of the Scottish Parent Teacher Council, said: “This is a single example of a problem schools across the country have. It is a problem that needs to be addressed.”

Margaret Mitchell, the justice spokeswoman for the Scottish Conservatives, said: “I have every sympathy for the young boy’s family, who would have had no idea this was going on. But it is now the case that younger and younger people are not only taking drugs, but dealing in them. Incidents such as this reinforce the necessity for education on drugs for people of primary school age upwards.”