3 hospitalized after taking drug

Three Bucks County high school sophomores were hospitalized yesterday after taking a drug intended to elicit an Ecstasy-like high, police said.

Council Rock High School North administrators confiscated "a package of small pink pills purchased from the Internet called Snurf" after the students fell ill yesterday morning, the school district said in an online statement.

The three students, all male, were taken by ambulance to a local hospital. Newtown Township Police Chief Rick Pasqualini said they remained hospitalized yesterday evening at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. A fourth student, who told police he had not taken any pill, was examined at a hospital as a precaution, officials said.

The other three were being monitored closely and had been given intravenous treatment, Pasqualini said.

"Their condition was slightly improving," he said.

Police are investigating the matter, including the source and composition of the pills.

"Apparently, it's a herbal, Ecstasy-type thing," Pasqualini said. "Their behavior was one that was indicative of someone being under hallucinogens. They weren't feeling well."

Results from the police lab analysis were not available yesterday. Several Internet sites allege that Snurf is a concentrated pill form of dextromethorphan (DXM), a chemical found in several cough and cold medicines that has hallucinogenic properties and, in excessive doses, toxic effects.

A 2006 survey sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse found that 5 percent of 10th-grade students reported a recreational use of DXM within the past year.

Police and the school district said they believe the pills that sickened the three students are an isolated situation.

"Every school in the country has some issues," Pasqualini said, "and we are not immune."