More than a dozen children were medically evaluated this week after mistakenly consuming THC-infused edibles.
According to KOB4, the incident occurred this week at Algodones Elementary School in New Mexico, just days after the state began legal sales of recreational marijuana. Officials for Bernalillo Public Schools say a student brought the gummy candies to school Monday and shared them with 14 classmates, all of whom were under age 10. The child who passed out the edibles was reportedly unaware that the items contained marijuana.
“I’m not surprised by a lot of things anymore because there’s so much accessibility to so much but in this case I’m a little bit dumbfounded by how quickly it came about,” Bernalillo Public School Superintendent Matt Montaño said. “Not to be unexpected that this could happen but to happen so quickly after the law went into effect on Friday was a bit surprising for me. I feel like I’m a little on my heels on it and I’m disappointed not to be able to be a little more proactive about this.”
Staff became aware of the situation after a number of students complained about being sick after consuming the gummies. Montaño said the kids were then evaluated by medical personnel, and are currently safe and healthy.
The Sandoval County Sheriff’s office has launched an investigation to determine how the child obtained the edibles. Authorities have not confirmed whether any adults will be charged in connection to the incident.
Montaño is now urging parents to keep THC products out of children’s reach, and speak to them about the potential dangers of the psychoactive substance.
“So, even if this child was told ‘Hey, you can’t have access to that,’ they still see it as candy and I think it’s really important before we jump to conclusions, it was probably just thought of, it’s just candy,” Montaño said, as reported by KRQE. “If we’re intentional and transparent and we communities and keep them updated, as well as take their feedback, maybe they’ll really work closely with our families and our seeing things we’re not seeing that we need to be aware of, I think we can hit this off.”
