North Ogden police are investigating after an 11-year-old elementary school student unknowingly brought a bag of THC-infused gummies to school in March and shared them with four other children at recess, police announced Tuesday.
THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, is the main psychoactive component of cannabis — responsible for the “high” that users experience when consuming marijuana.
The child brought the gummies from home to Green Acres Elementary School in North Ogden on March 26, “believing that they were regular gummy worms,” police said in a news release. Each child the fifth grader shared the edibles with ate between one to three THC-infused gummy worms and “became ill,” according to the release.
One of the children told their parents, who showed up to the school to notify staff, police said.
In a statement Tuesday, Weber School District said once staff was made aware, the school nurse was looped in, who coordinated with the Utah Poison Control Center.
“We also contacted the parents of each student,” the district said, contending that despite police reporting that the children became ill, “none of the students were ill (such as vomiting) but they were exhibiting symptoms like light-headedness.”
The district said Tuesday that it was not aware of any of the students affected being taken to a hospital. “With that being said, parents may have sought private medical care after checking out their child from school, but we were not made aware of any serious concerns,” the statement noted.
Police said at least one child “was reported to have been checked out by a doctor and was advised to sleep off the effects,” the release stated.
Though the situation unfolded in March, North Ogden police did not publicly announce the details until Tuesday. When asked about the delay, police told The Salt Lake Tribune that they decided to issue a news release after a separate news organization had inquired about the incident.
On the day the children ate the gummies, the district sent out a message to parents “with a reminder to make sure to secure all medications in their homes so things like this don’t happen,” according to the district statement.
Police continue to investigate, and prosecutors are currently screening the case for potential criminal charges against the parent of the child who brought the gummies to school, police said.
The Utah Division of Child and Family Services also opened a case against the parent after the agency was contacted, police said.
More information on the investigations wasn’t immediately released Tuesday afternoon.