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Four Students Hospitalized After Eating Drug-laced Candy At School

By Jacintha Webster
Published on: 12:07 PST, Apr 11, 2016

Four students from a local Pinellas County, Flordia, high school are in the Johns Hopkins Children’s Hospital after eating drug-laced candy that another student had brought to school.

According to WFLA one student, also from the school, brought the drug-laced gummy candy to school and shared them around. It is believed that seven students ate the candy but only four were hospitalized. Boca Ciega High School school officials have confirmed that the incident happened on Monday around noon.

School officials are working with the Gulf Port Police as detectives investigate the incident that led to the children being hospitalized. They are still unsure at this stage whether the student who supplied the candy knew that it had been laced with drugs.

“The school is reviewing the incident to understand what happened and is working with the Gulfport Police Department as they investigate the incident,” the school district said in a statement according to Gulfport Patch.

Officials have not released what drug the candy was laced with or whether one of the students that was hospitalized was the one who supplied the gummy candy. Gulfport Police Chief Robert Vincent said presumptive tests showed that the drug was THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. All the parents of the hospitalized students have been notified.

Kellie Boxx, the mother of one the students hospitalized, said she does not believe her daughter knew that the candy she ate had been laced with drugs, according to WTSP. She said her daughter was so sick and threw up so much that the unknown drug is now out of her system and she is heading home from the hospital. Boxx blames the school and the student who supplied the candy for her daughter ending up in hospital.

“I’m mad at the school for one, and I mad at whoever gave it to her for two,” said Boxx.

One student, Rosie Santiago a 10th grader at the school, is a friend of someone who ate the candy ans she said she did not know what was happening when she saw her friend after she had eaten the drug-laced candy.

“She was dazing,” said Santiago. “She had her head down. She was kind of in a trance. You really couldn’t talk to her. She couldn’t really function well. She was just real slow kind of. She was just losing her mind, honestly.”

As of Monday afternoon, no arrests have been made and no charges have been filed. The incident remains under investigation and Chief Vincent has declined to speak about the case. The condition of the hospitalized students has not yet been released due to federal privacy laws.

The drug-candy incident in Gulfport is the most recent of a string of incidents this year that has landed students in hospital. In February, four Cleveland students were hospitalized after reportedly eating cereal bars laced with drugs. All four of the students were eighth-graders at Lake Erie Prep School on St. Clair Avenue and were taken to Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital. The student who supplied the candy was removed from school and all four students were released from hospital. The school released a statement after the incident.

“We are pleased to announce that all four Lake Erie Preparatory School students who were taken to Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital earlier today have been released from the hospital and are at home with their parents. As we move to ensure the safety and security of our students, we are continuing the investigation and expect the results to be forthcoming soon. We thank the community for its concern and support.”

https://twitter.com/FlowersRene/status/719645308439932928

Earlier this month, another four students were hospitalized and two others were found in possession of drugs at the Anderson County Alternative School. Four female students were taken to the hospital after their teacher, Ron Dillingham, noticed their speech was slurred and that the students were staggering. Dillingham said the students admitted to taking pills but the substance had not been identified.

[Photo by Contributor/Getty Images]

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