Arnold students out of hospital
Deputies plan further interviews with the Arnold High School students who were hospitalized Wednesday after overdosing on antidepressants.
Four of the six unidentified students who took the drug Elavil were released from the hospital Wednesday and taken to a facility for mental evaluation, according to the Bay County Sheriff’s Office. A fifth student, who had been in intensive care at Bay Medical Center, was released Thursday afternoon, according to a hospital spokeswoman. A sixth student ingested only one Elavil pill and did not require hospitalization.
Authorities are investigating the incident, and criminal charges are pending, according to deputies.
Authorities said a female student distributed Elavil, an antidepressant that also can be used as a painkiller, to five other 10th- and 11th-grade students before class started. Shortly after class began, one of the girls asked to use the restroom. She returned to the wrong class and was so incoherent, the teacher escorted her to the office. Paramedics were called and her parents notified, deputies reported.
Before long, other students who took the drug also were taken to the office and either were transported to area hospitals or taken by their parents.
The Elavil pills, which were low-dosage 50-milligram pills, were prescribed to the father of one of the girls, according to Capt. Ricky Ramie of the Sheriff’s Office.