Two Youths Hospitalized After Six Students Overdose on PCP

Six junior high school students were taken to local hospitals Tuesday after overdosing on PCP, police said.

Officers arrived at Washington Junior High School about 2:30 p.m. after four girls and two boys ingested PCP that they believed was cocaine or methamphetamine, Police Lt. Archie Scott said.

Paramedics rushed four teenagers to Kern Medical Center. One boy was in serious condition at the hospital’s intensive care unit and another boy was in guarded but stable condition. Two girls were treated and released from the hospital, a nursing supervisor said.

Two other teenagers who also complained of overdose symptoms were treated at Memorial Hospital and released, hospital officials said.

The students’ names were withheld because they are minors.

“Indications are that they snorted it or mixed it in a drink they all shared,” Scott said. “Some of the kids thought they had coke or methamphetamine. These are 13- or 14-year-old kids. They have no idea what either of those drugs could do to them.”

One of the girls apparently brought the PCP to school, the lieutenant said.

“We don’t know if this has been going on for some time,” Scott said. “The school year is almost out. Kids are doing things they probably normally wouldn’t be involved in.”