Zionsville Community High School to begin random drug testing of students
By Sophie Pappas
Samantha King* was 18 when she realized something was very wrong with her boyfriend. He was always running late, always making excuses, and never returning her calls.
Finally his parents told King that they feared the worst was happening; their son was falling back into his addiction to heroin.
According to the Center for Disease Control, heroin is becoming the drug of choice for young people in America. It is cheaper than ever, and in a fast-paced American culture allows its users to slow down with only a smidge of the powder inhaled or injected.
Hollywood’s own Cory Monteith died last year from a heroin overdose, as did the acclaimed actor Phillip Seymour Hoffman.
And yet, this drug isn’t limited to the plights of wealthy actors. It’s right here in Zionsville.
King, a Zionsville Community High School graduate, said heroin has been in Zionsville for the last few years. She has had numerous friends who have found themselves quickly addicted to the once-taboo opiate.
Her now-former boyfriend, who declined to give an interview with Current, completed expensive drug treatments for his heroin addiction, with his parents paying more than $30,000 for the bill every time.
“It was really sad to watch,” King, now 23 and a married mother of two, said.
In recent police reports, several Zionsville residents have been arrested for the possession of heroin. One woman arrested last year, at age 21, was a ZCHS graduate and well-known drug user.
On Jan. 15, 2010, Charles Roberts, 21, a 2008 ZCHS graduate, was found dead from a heroin overdose in his parents’ Zionsville home.
At the time, Boone County Sheriff Ken Campbell said that while meth is on the rise around the country, there are several heroin dealers in Zionsville, which has led to an increase use of the drug in this area.
Drug use in the schools
Aside from the normal usage of marijuana (which the CDC states is used by 12 percent of all high school students), steroids and nicotine, heroin is the single most addicting drug grabbing the attention of young people – and their concerned parents – everywhere.
At the May 12 Zionsville Community Schools Corp. Board of Trustees meeting, ZCHS principal Tim East addressed the board with a proposal to introduce random drug testing at the high school in order to combat high school drug use.
This comes after a school year during which drugs have been a constant concern for school officials.
East said that ZCHS most recently had 17 students suspended as a result of illicit drug use, and nine more students who were punished for using tobacco products.
Last year, a drug advisory committee was formed between parents, students and school administrators. This group has been working alongside Midwest Toxicology Services, a company that conducts random drug tests in the surrounding high schools of Westfield, Noblesville, Fishers and Brownsburg.
Susie Fields is the sales representative from Midwest Toxicology assisting the ZCHS advisory group in their plan to conduct random drug tests.
“This advisory group is probably the most diligent high school group I’ve ever worked with,” Fields said. “The students really care about getting drugs out of their school.”
She said that in the past two years, her company has seen a “huge upswing” in the number of high schools asking for drug testing materials as a result of widespread heroin use in Central Indiana.
“This program is about deterring students from using,” Fields said. “But then the advisory group is working to establish how can we help the students who test positive.”
How it would work
East said that he knows not every student uses hard drugs, but that he doesn’t want parents and the community to have a “false sense of security.”
ZCHS already conducts breathalyzer tests before school dances, which test for alcohol on the breaths of students.
Random drug testing would pertain to any student that is involved in an extra curricular activity, drives to school, or attends school functions.
Testing would take place on unannounced days, inside a mobile trailer parked in the ZCHS parking lot. The trailer does not have running water, so students would not be able to water down any urinalysis samples. They would also not be allowed to carry in backpacks or purses.
According to Fields, ZCHS will pay between $31 and $36 for each student tested. The number of students tested on a given day will depend on how much money the school allots to the program.
Test results would be confidential and only disclosed to school staff. A student who tests positive for drug use would not be suspended or reported to law enforcement. Rather, they would lose the privilege of participating in their sport or extracurricular activity.
East said the student would be retested within a month.
“In a perfect world we would have no possible hits,” he said. “And the student would go back to normal activity.”
Fields said she is hopeful that the program will be a success in Zionsville, with only minimum backlash from parents and students.
“I think it will be successful,” she said. “The goal is to help kids and get them back to living a healthy life if they are abusing drugs.”
Call the Drug Task Force
The Boone Co. Drug Task Force, which works closely on a team with the Metropolitan Drug Task Force and the Hamilton Co. Drug Task Force, aims to identify and arrest individuals or members of organizations that are selling, delivering or storing illegal drugs or weapons.
Updated statistics from the Hamilton/Boone Drug Task Force combined team show that in one recent year, the task force investigated numerous cases resulting in the removal of illegal drugs with a street value in excess of $2 million dollars and asset forfeitures of nearly $400,000.
Most recently on Feb. 6, officers of the Hamilton/Boone County Drug Task Force served a search warrant to Robert Fenner, 40, in Fishers, and seized a large amount of anabolic steroids, cash and firearms that police believe to be a part of a larger drug scheme.
Fenner was arrested for three counts of C felony dealing anabolic steroids, three counts of D felony possession of anabolic steroids, and D felony illegal possession of a syringe.
Officers seized approximately 3,500 anabolic steroids in a pill form, 158 vials of liquid anabolic steroids and $3,500 cash. The estimated street value of anabolic steroids seized is believed to be approximately $15,000, which is one of the largest the task force has seen in recent years.
Anyone wishing to report any type of illegal drug activity in Boone or Hamilton Counties should contact the Hamilton/Boone County Drug Hotline at 571-2545. All callers may remain anonymous.
A representative from Midwest Toxicology Services will attend the June 9 ZCS Board of Trustees meeting to continue the discussion of random drug testing at ZCHS.
* Name has been changed to project the anonymity of the source.
