A note from the editor

It started, as many big stories do, with a single tip: Girls at Corona

del Mar High School were snorting Ritalin to lose weight.

That quickly led to a news story: Corona del Mar students were detained

at the Tijuana border crossing last fall by U.S. Customs officials, who

questioned why the girls were bringing bootleg Ritalin into the country.

But the story didn’t end there. It was just the beginning. One question

led to another.

Why were Corona del Mar students buying Ritalin with such frequency in

Mexico that one Tijuana pharmacy posted a photo of two girls on the wall,

adopting them as their mascot?

How many girls were abusing Ritalin in an attempt to shed pounds?

Was this a symptom of a bigger problem with eating disorders on campus?

And why did this phenomenon seem centered at Corona del Mar High?

And so began a three-month investigation. Daily Pilot reporter Jessica

Garrison interviewed more than 40 Corona del Mar students and 20 more

from Newport Harbor High. She talked with more than 15 parents in

addition to counselors, doctors and nutritionists who deal with eating

disorders.

And this is what she found.

The Corona del Mar High School community has a problem. Many girls -- not

just a handful, but a sizable minority -- are using Ritalin to lose

weight. Others think a fat-free pretzel and a Diet Coke is a perfect

lunch.

It’s a campus filled with girls who have an unhealthy obsession with

their weight, although it’s often cloaked in the guise of “being

healthy.”

While it’s impossible to know the exact numbers, eating disorders have

landed many, many girls in doctors’ and nutritionists’ offices.

Last year, according to one student, at least two girls ended up in the

hospital. In one of the most affluent communities in the world, scores of

youngsters go to bed hungry.

The reasons are many. Intense pressure to succeed, a huge emphasis on

appearance in this beach community, easily accessible drugs and the

notion that you can and should use any means necessary to mold your body

into the rail-thin shapes seen in fashion magazines.

We know this will be a controversial story. We know some will feel

attacked, and others will even question whether the story is true.

It is.

There’s also some good news here. The faculty at Corona del Mar has

already taken a number of intelligent steps to curb the problem of eating

disorders on campus. That’s what people in this community have come to

expect from Corona.

But life for its high school students isn’t perfect, and the existence of

life-threatening problems shouldn’t be denied because people are afraid

to shatter Corona’s image.

And so we give you this story.

We’d like your thoughts about it. Please e-mail us at

dailypilot@earthlink.net or call us at (949) 642-6086. Thank you.

-- William Lobdell, editor