Four Rochester High School students taken to hospital for intoxication

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ROCHESTER, Ind. - Four Rochester High School students were rushed to the hospital Thursday morning after showing signs of intoxication.

Fulton County Sheriff’s department has confirmed the teens had significant exposure to THC from a vape but they aren’t sure if the THC in the vape cartridge could’ve been laced with something more dangerous.

At around 10:30 a.m. Thursday school officials at Rochester High School contacted emergency services for four of its students.

“It was kind of out of the blue,” Monique Clawson said, who was at the school to give her fiance his lunch. “All of the sudden he ambulance, fire department and stuff, rescue, sheriff’s department all pulled in right behind the car so I was blocked in. I didn’t know what was going on.”
According to Fulton County Detective Sergeant, Travis Heishman, the students showed outward signs of intoxication but at that point police were not sure what exactly the teens were on.

They later confirmed the four were smoking a THC vape cartridge and had significant exposure to the chemical in marijuana that gets people high.

However, Heishman tells me since it is illegal to smoke pot in Indiana, the cartridge could’ve been tampered with and he’s not sure if it was laced with anything more dangerous.

“That’s even more scary not knowing what was in that vape pen. Makes it to where you don’t know how your body’s going to tolerate it,” Clawson said.

“A lot of the drugs that are going around nowadays, they’re getting horrible, horrible stuff put in them,” Jeffery Resner said.

Resner went to Rochester High School and now has a 5-year-old son.

School Superintendent Jana Vance tells ABC57 in a statement that the school went on lock down to allow safe passage for emergency personnel to transport the four students to a hospital.

Parents say this is something no one with kids wants to hear.

“Why, why are they doing that,” Resner said.

“It’s a scary incident to know as why they would even attempt to do something as to even inhale and ingest something that they know nothing really about,” Clawson said.

The vaping crisis, they say is getting out of hand.

“Where do they get it? Who is giving this to kids? There’s no reason any kid should be around anything like that,” Resner said.

But when it comes to a solution? They tell me parents need to educate their kids.

“They need to have that information as to what the consequences no matter what,” Clawson said.

The Sheriff’s Office is still investigating and will know more once the student’s blood work gets back.

All four students have been released from the hospital.

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