Four third-grade students were hospitalized earlier this week after ingesting THC-infused edibles, according to NBC San Diego.
The group of children who attended North Broadway Elementary School in Escondido, California, fell ill after eating the edibles, and emergency personnel transported them to a local hospital. In a statement on Wednesday, the Escondido School District said, "The widespread availability and commercialization of THC-infused 'edibles' is a growing concern for school communities statewide, including ours."
Edibles often pose a danger for children as they come in various treats such as candy, cookies, and more. It also doesn't help that some of the packaging of edible products are appealing to children.
Since cannabis was legalized in San Diego in 2015, Rady Children's Hospital saw cases of children getting sick from edibles reach the hundreds annually. The hospital reported the average age of children being admitted for edible consumption is 3.5 years.
"You take your average dose of an edible cannabis, which might be somewhere between 5 and 10 to 20 milligrams for an adult—that dose can make a child critically ill, "Dr. Natalie Laub, a pediatrician at Rady Children's Hospital, told NBC San Diego.
Children consuming edibles has also been a problem in Florida. Just last week, six children at a Boys & Girls Club in Lauderhill, Florida, were hospitalized after they ate candy believed to have been THC-infused. According to PEOPLE, eight children ate the candy, and only six of them were hospitalized once Lauderhill Police Department were called. The children have since been released from the hospital, police said.
