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A teen Action 4 News will call ‘Debbie’ said that getting high off of Potpourri took over her life.

"All I wanted to do was lock myself in my room and smoke all day,” Debbie said. “I didn't care about anything else."
           
Her habit soon became hazardous to her health.
           
‘Debbie said, after a physical fight with her parents, she decided to get help.
           
La Joya ISD Police Chief Raul Gonzalez said, ‘Debbie’s’ story is no different than the hundreds of other kids who use synthetic drugs.
           
“We had no idea that kids were starting to use this until it came to the front,” Gonzalez said. “We realized we had a problem and started dealing with it toward the end of the school year.”
           
With over 60 cases of their own to investigate, in just one semester, Gonzalez said they knew they had to do something. 

"It was really important for us to deal with. Many kids that hadn’t tried marijuana were trying this,” Gonzalez said. “We didn’t want them to graduate into using marijuana, cocaine, or Roche pills."

Now armed with knowledge about what these drugs and how they can effect a person—officers went to work.
           
Gonzalez said the biggest help they have received in keeping a tight leash on all of this is the parents.

He said the department has been able to get many of them involved and that has helped cut down on the number of cases seen throughout the district.

So far this year the department only has five documented cases of students using synthetic drugs on campus.