Seven private school boys ‘pushed boundaries’ with dangerous drug

Seven students hospitalised after a mass overdose were ‘boundary pushing’ in a dangerous experiment, police say.

Saint Stephen’s College principal Jamie Dorrington. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

Seven students hospitalised after a mass overdose at a Gold Coast ­private school had taken a powdered drug in doses ranging from a “taste” to significant amounts, police say.

The boys, aged 14 and 15, took the substance over the course of several hours before the devastating effects kicked in at Saint ­Stephen’s College at Coomera about lunchtime on Wednesday.

Five of the students involved remained in hospital yesterday, as police put the episode down to dangerous experimentation and “boundary pushing”.

Headmaster Jamie Dorrington said a concerned teacher was the first to raise the alarm, taking a student to the school’s health centre after noticing he was “clearly not operating properly”.

“Progressively more students turned up at the health centre,” Mr Dorrington told The Australian. The boys are suspected to have sourced Russian anti-­anxiety medication online and may have shared footage of their overdose on Snapchat.

Police said there was no suggestion the students were trying to self-harm. Mr Dorrington agreed. “I think it was just … they made a really bad error of judgment and they’re paying the price now,” he said. “We just hope the price is not too excessive.

“They were doing what sometimes young people do and it just went completely wrong.”

It had been “six or seven years” since the school had any kind of drug issue, and the incident sent a strong message to students not to experiment with drugs.

“I’m yet to get the full picture about how they got it,” he said.

“These kids are growing up in a far more complex world than I did and they’ve got more free ­access to things, and things that are potentially more hazardous than I was ever exposed to.”

Detective Senior Sergeant Greg Aubort, in charge of the Gold Coast Child Protection and Investigation Unit, said: “Kids are constantly pushing boundaries and looking for the next best thing.” Police were aware of ­suggestions the students filmed the overdose but had not seen any footage, he said.

As students and parents left the school yesterday afternoon, none were keen to speak on the record. One mother offered her support to the school community. “I love the school,” she said. “I am very, very happy here.”