WALDORF, Md. — Eight Charles County elementary school students ingested marijuana-laced gummy bears, according to Charles County Fire Public Information Officer, Bill Smith.
Smith said a call came into authorities around 1 p.m. of multiple students feeling symptoms after eating gummy bears at C. Paul Barnhart Elementary School in Charles County.
When crews arrived at the scene, they determined that the children ingested gummies laced with THC, which is the psychoactive main ingredient inside cannabis.
All of the children were checked out by Charles County Fire and EMS crews at the school, and none of them had life-threatening injuries, Smith said. The kids were picked up by their parents.
WUSA9 could not confirm with school leaders, but multiple parents said the incident happened during lunch when a group of fifth-graders shared the gummies. It is unclear if the children knew what they were eating.
"How did it get into the school?" asked the grandfather of a kindergarten student, Robert Snyder. "Did it come from an older kid or from a kid's home?"
WUSA9 spoke to Snyder while he was waiting in line to pick up his grandson Monday afternoon.
"I called the school immediately," said fourth-grade parent Cedric Warren. "I asked them if anyone was hurt and if my child was involved. They were short with me but said if my child was involved I would know and that they only contacted the parents of the kids involved. I’m just glad the school had sense enough to call EMS, and hopefully, their response gets better and we can come together and work as a community to educate the kids because it’s just that easy.”
The incident at the elementary school on Monday came as studies have shown a dramatic rise over the last several years in the number of children who have ingested edibles.
According to the American Association of Poison Control Centers, the number of children 12 and under who ingested an edible at home spiked from 132 in 2016 to almost 2,500 last year.
Dr. Brian Schultz, who has treated young patients at Children's National Hospital after they ingested edibles, believed part of the big increase was due to the candy-like packaging for the products.
"It’s happening more and more frequently. We’re seeing it a lot," he said. "A lot of the packages, tins and bags that they come in look almost identical to candy you would get at a candy store. Parents have to be aware of that and either make sure they’re locked up and safely stored away.”
Schultz also pointed to more states legalizing marijuana and the popularity of edibles for the increase.
Despite some children needing to be treated at hospitals, he said many of them recover soon.
"Overall, almost uniformly, they tend to do very well. The majority of the ones we see, they’re observed for a brief period of time. They’re sent home from the emergency department or may be admitted to the inpatient floor, not an ICU," he said. "There have been some reports of seizures or seizure-like activity in some kids. It can be all over the place. It can anywhere from giggly type behavior that you associate with THC to extreme agitation.”
To be safe, Dr. Schultz advised parents who have edibles in their home to make sure they are stored safely away from children.
"I think people feel that it’s very safe," he said. "They might not put it up in a way they might think of for their pharmaceuticals for their high blood pressure medication.”
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