Several students from a Serra Mesa middle school were transported to local hospitals Friday after eating medicinal marijuana brownies or candies and hallucinating, according to firefighters.
The incident happened around 9.36 a.m. at Taft Middle School at 9191 Gramercy Drive.
“Their symptomatology and the classroom teacher recognized there was something unusual. They were feeling nauseous, lethargic, tired,” said San Diego School District Police Sgt. Troy Holliday.
Seven students were sent to the nurse’s office.
The students initially reported feeling “kind of sick” during first period after ingesting “something green,” according to San Diego Fire and Rescue spokesperson Maurice Luque.
The nurse then called police.
Holliday says the students ingested the marijuana before school in the form of a brownie or candy bar. He says it came from a dispensary.
Local
“The packaging the officers found was a pre-packaged brownie that had writing on it that showed it was cannabis,” said Holliday. “Based on our investigation, our experience, we believe it may have come from a local dispensary.”
Police don’t know how the children got the brownie or candy bar or how much they ingested. Investigators were trying to track down which dispensary the marijuana came from, Holliday said.
The students were transported to two local hospitals with non-life threatening injuries for observation.
An eighth student later complained of an unrelated upset stomach and was also transported, according to Luque.
Police say the students were released to their parents as the investigation continues. Some may face charges of being under the influence.
“It's not so much the charges we're looking at. We're actually looking at what we want to do to help these kids so they don't make the same mistake twice,” said Holliday.
A lesson learned during first period.
“We want them to learn from it. The juvenile system isn't about locking them up, it's about rehabilitation and having them learn from this and learn from their mistakes,” said Holliday.
The school police will turn the results of its investigation over to the juvenile District Attorney’s Office. The students may have to take classes about the dangers of drugs. That is yet to be determined.
Meantime, the school itself will take its own disciplinary measures. A student has to be under the influence three times before he or she is subject to expulsion. But the students could get suspended.
