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Officials: Local First Grader Shows Off What Appears To Be Heroin During School Lunchtime

By Matt Rivers

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Officials say it was sometime Tuesday afternoon a young student showed off what appears to be heroin during lunchtime.

Other students saw what he was doing and told school officials.

The School District says the first grader brought fourteen small baggies of what they believe to be heroin to his lunch period at the William Cramp Elementary School on the 3400 block of North Mascher.

Other students saw the young boy showing off the baggies and two of them spoke up.

Fernando Gallard of the School District says, "One of the students brought a baggie to a noontime aide and another told a Philadelphia police officer at the school at the time for the DARE program."

The student who allegedly brought the drugs to school was taken away by the Special Victims Unit, which is now handling the case.

School officials say the students speaking up in the lunchroom is the bright spot of this whole incident.

This afternoon a letter went home to the parents of the other first graders, saying in part, "This letter is a reminder to please check your child's school bag everyday and remove anything that does not belong at a school.  Today, one of your child's classmates, a first grader, brought an item to school that we believe is illegal."

We spoke to some parents who received that letter, and they were predictably upset.

"These kids could have eaten it and thought it was candy. They can overdose," says one parent.

Now the investigation turns to where this child allegedly got these drugs from, whether it be from his parents or just off the street.

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