DALTON, Ga. — Three Dalton High School students have been arrested on drug charges by the Dalton Police Department.

On Friday, John Shannon Reeves Jr., 18, of 241 Rock Creek Trail in Ringgold, was charged with distribution of a schedule 2 drug, and Vinicio Vega-Herrera, 18, of 1120 Danielle Drive in Dalton, was charged with possession of a schedule 2 drug.

On Monday, police officers charged 17-year-old Rodney Maurice Melendrez of 1418 Walston Ave. in Dalton with possession of a schedule 2 drug.

All three arrests were for felony drug offenses and were made at Dalton High School with the assistance of Dalton High administrators.

“It is very unfortunate, but we take the safety of the school very seriously,” said Principal Steve Bartoo, who said administrators were alerted to the presence of drugs by a student and a parent. “Anytime we get that kind of report, we immediately take action. Unfortunately, it turned out to be accurate.”

According to an incident report from the police department, two females told Assistant Principal Ron Ward they had bought Xanax pills from a fellow classmate and had become sick from them. One of the girls told Ward the pills had been purchased from Vega-Herrera. The student said she had purchased 10 pills from Vega-Herrera and sold two to her friend.

According to police, when he was confronted by Ward, Vega-Herrera admitted to selling 10 Xanax pills to the girl at a party “2-3 weeks ago.” When asked by Ward if he had anything in his possession he wasn’t supposed to have at school, Vega-Herrera removed two pills he said were Adderall. Vega-Herrera told authorities he didn’t have a prescription for them and had purchased them from Reeves earlier in the day.

The report said Reeves admitted to selling the two pills he had brought from home for $6. Reeves said he had a prescription for the medication, but the prescription bottle he pulled from his bag was for 40 milligrams of Dexmethylphenidate. A search of the bag found one complete pill and four empty pill cases.

An incident report on Melendrez’s arrest on Monday was not immediately available. Police department spokesman Bruce Frazier said he didn’t know of any other charges against Melendrez.

Bartoo said administrators and staff were acting on a tip that Melendrez was also in possession of drugs.

All three students have been suspended from school and will have to go before a tribunal for long-term suspension, Bartoo said.

“If there is any good part about this, we got information from our parents and our students and when we get that information we investigate and take action,” Bartoo said. “It is a serious thing on our campus and the consequences are serious but that is how we approach it. I hate it. I hate it for the students involved. It is very unfortunate and very poor choices being made.”