Student Held After Teacher’s Tea Is Laced With LSD

A 13-year-old student has been arrested after a history teacher’s iced tea was spiked with the hallucinatory substance LSD and the teacher became sick and disoriented, officials said.

The youth, an eighth-grader, has been taken to Juvenile Hall, pending a hearing Monday on a possible felony charge.

John Duitsman, a veteran teacher at Challenger Middle School, was treated and released at a hospital but has not returned to work. Tests confirmed that the tea was laced with LSD, an increasingly popular drug among San Diego students.

“LSD has become the drug of desire in the last four to five years,” said Tom Hall, chief of the school system’s police force.

The student reportedly was angry at Duitsman for a low grade he received. He was arrested Wednesday after making incriminating statements to fellow students, authorities said.

On Thursday, Principal Sam Wong told students via closed-circuit television of the seriousness of the alleged offense and sent a note home to parents of the 1,400 students warning that “all appropriate disciplinary steps will be taken.”

Hall said there is no evidence that the incident involved more than one student and one teacher.