Students treated after taking prescription sedative

PHILADELPHIA - A dozen students at a city school were treated at a hospital after taking the prescription sedative Xanax, school and hospital officials said. About 30 students had taken the drug.<br> <br> The students were taken to the hospital Tuesday afternoon after they became drowsy in class. About half remained there Tuesday evening for treatment, a hospital official said.<br> <br> The 7th- and 8th-grade students at Clemente Middle School got the pills from a female classmate who brought them from home, said Claudia Averette, special assistant to the school district&#39;s chief safety executive.<br> <br> &#34;It was distributed to other students. There was no money exchanged,&#34; she said.<br> <br> Dr. Zach Kassutto of St. Christopher&#39;s Hospital for Children, who treated the students in the emergency room, said they were given activated charcoal to absorb the drug.<br> <br> Xanax, a sedative similar to Valium, is typically prescribed for anxiety or sleep problems, Kassutto said.<br> <br>

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