Police say students may have purchased a key ingredient found in cough medications to get "high"
By: John Patten
HIGHTSTOWN — Three students of The Peddie School remain hospitalized at the Medical Center at Princeton after taking a substance commonly found in over-the-counter cough medications.
The students, and another who has been released from Robert Wood Johnson Hospital in Hamilton, were rushed to the medical centers at about 6 p.m. Tuesday, after one was taken to the school’s medical center with symptoms of a drug overdose.
According to Hightstown Police Detective Glen Moore, the female student was unable to speak or walk, and was flushed. Police investigating the incident then discovered three other students, two girls and one boy, in similar condition on the school’s grounds.
Upon further investigation, Detective Moore said the officers recovered a white powder, which they were told was "DXM," or Dextromethorphan, a common ingredient in over-the-counter cough medications.
DXM is not illegal to possess and police believe the students purchase it from the online auction service E-bay.
As of Wednesday afternoon, one of the students was in the Medical Center at Princeton’s intensive care unit and another was in the critical care unit. The third hospitalized student is in a regular hospital room.
All of the students are 17 years old.
See Friday’s Windsor-Hights Herald for updated information on the condition of the students, and the use of DXM.