The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office has found numerous vaping devices and cartridges believed to contain THC and other possible illegal substances at Seckman High this school year, and parents have said they are worried about drug use at the school in a series of recent social media posts.
There also was a recent report in another local news source about a student who allegedly was hospitalized with a head injury after using a vaping device at Seckman High and suffering a seizure.
While district officials and authorities have not verified those reports about alleged student drug use at Seckman High, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Marc Gibson, a school resource officer at the school, has found more vaping devices and vape cartridges, which are referred to as “carts” and used to inhale marijuana and other substances, this school year than any previous school year, Sheriff’s Office spokesman Grant Bissell said.
“This is not a Seckman-specific issue,” Bissell said. “The popularity of these things and kids having them is much broader.”
Seckman High in Imperial is one of two high schools in the Fox C-6 School District. The other is Fox High School in Arnold, and Arnold Police, which employs the school resource officer at Fox High School, has not reported an increase of vaping devices or carts found at the school.
Gibson and his K-9 partner, Kane, a German shepherd, searched classrooms in two hallways April 14 at Seckman High, the Sheriff’s Office and Fox C-6 School District officials said.
Bissell said two vaping devices and a bag containing what appeared to be used vaping cartridges were found during the search.
He said no other suspected illegal substances were discovered during the search, and no students were arrested.
Sheriff’s Office and Fox C-6 officials said searching the school with Kane, who is trained to detect the possible presence of illegal drugs, is routine, and the district said the search was scheduled.
“The health and safety of students is our top priority in Fox C-6,” district officials said in an April 14 written statement. “This routine search was conducted in partnership with the Jefferson County Sherriff’s Department. Students found to be in possession of items that violate the district’s discipline policy are subject to discipline in accordance with said policy.”
Arnold Police Detective Lt. Jason Valentine said the department has not conducted a drug search at Fox High this school year. When those searches are held, they are random and unannounced.
Rock Township Ambulance District Chief Jerry Appleton and Rock Community Fire Protection District public information officer Stephanie Jackson said there has not been an uptick in drug-related emergency calls to either of the district’s high schools.
Appleton said Rock Township has been called to Seckman High School at least 10 times since Jan. 1, but he does not believe those calls were connected to drug use. He said Rock Township responded to a call because of a medical emergency at the school on April 13.
Appleton did not say what the emergency was and did not say who Rock Township personnel helped at the school.
Jackson said Rock Fire has not been called to Fox High since the beginning of April.
Bissell said Gibson reported that he has found many vaping cartridges at Seckman High with a stamp commonly found on “carts” produced in California, where recreational marijuana use is legal.
Bissell said the stamp commonly indicates the cartridge contains THC, which the DEA says is the main ingredient in marijuana that produces a mind-altering psychoactive effect.
“It is not known if these stamp carts are coming from California or other locations,” he said. “It also is not known if the devices have been tampered with and other substances have been added or put into the cartridges.”
Bissell said the “carts” that are stamped with the THC indicator are not allowed in Missouri, where only medical marijuana use with a doctor’s approval is legal.
He also warned everyone not to inhale something with a vaping device when they are not certain what they are inhaling and where it was produced.
“Any time it is unclear what may or may not be in a device, you are better off not putting that substance into your body,” Bissell said. “If you think that you are going to be vaping THC and it turns out to be fentanyl in that device, it is a gamechanger and potentially a life changer. The opioid epidemic is well documented in this country. You can overdose and die the first time you have fentanyl, or you can become addicted on it after the first time you try it.”
Fox district officials said they are aware of the increased use of vaping devices across the country.
“While there is still a lot for us and our community to learn, we can give some advice to all students and families,” district officials said in a written statement. “Avoid ingesting any items that you are not absolutely sure what they contain, especially vape pens and similar devices. It is not safe to use these types of devices, even if they are marketed as drug-free. The health and safety of students remain our top priority in Fox C-6.”
Bissell said until April 14, Gibson and Kane had not searched classrooms since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, although searches had been held in the school’s hallways and parking lots. He said if Kane indicates the possible presence of drugs in a school, an administrator is called in to seize the suspected illegal substance or device because of the possible violation of district rules.
The suspected illegal substances and devices are then turned over to a deputy, who forwards the report to juvenile authorities in most cases.
Bissell said because the Sheriff’s Office does not have a crime lab, it cannot analyze the substances or contents of devices found at Seckman High. He said the department forwards those items to the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s crime lab for analysis, but none of the items had been tested as of April 14.
Missouri State Highway Patrol Lt. Eric Brown said so far this year, the crime laboratory system has received 28,264 cases and completed 29,742 forensic reports for more than 600 law enforcement agencies in the state.
“The lab prioritizes cases but can expedite the handling of a specific case upon request because of circumstances such as a suspected serial crime, approaching court dates, evidentiary requirements or other reasons,” Brown said. “It takes approximately 120 days from the date drug-related evidence is received to complete the testing and return the results to the submitting agency.”
The Drug Enforcement Administration warned about an increased use of vaping devices, including the use of vaping devices to inhale marijuana concentrates in October 2019.
In the report, the DEA said 37.3 percent of high school seniors reported using a vaping device in 2018, up for 27.8 percent in 2017, and 13.1 percent of high school seniors said they used a vaping device to smoke marijuana in 2018, up from 9.5 percent in 2017.
The report also said 32.3 percent of high school sophomores reported using a vaping device in 2018, up from 23.9 percent, and 17.6 percent of eighth-grade students used a vaping device in 2018, up from 13.3 percent in 2017.
In September 2020, the DEA issued a bulletin about the first case of agents discovering fentanyl being used in a vaping device.