A Buffalo, NY public school teacher was placed on administrative leave after he accidentally gave two students THC edibles he mistook for regular candy, according to school officials.
The teacher at PS 79, the William J. Grabiarz School of Excellence, offered students marijuana-laced gummies disguised as regular Sour Patch Kids on April 1, according to a Buffalo Police report obtained by ABC 7.
The teacher said he had no idea that the candies contained any THC, the upstate New York school district said in a statement.
Two students who ate the offered candy during a swim class were taken to a hospital for evaluation after one of them reported feeling sick.
One of the students, 11-year-old JaiAire Richardson, recounted the harrowing experience to ABC 7.
“I was like, the scaredest kid in the world. And like, I didn’t want to, like, take anything from no one again,” he told the outlet.
The edibles were packaged like a typical bag of Sour Patch Kids with a very small label noting that it contained 500 milligrams of THC, police said. Typically, edibles disguised as marketable candies are meant to be broken up and shared as they contain staggeringly high amounts of THC. Nerd Gummy Ropes are a common “tear and share” treat for marijuana enthusiasts.
The teacher was placed on paid leave the same day as the district asserted it was taking the situation “extremely seriously.”
JaiAire’s parents are still looking to the district for answers about where the edibles came from in the first place.
“We look for our children to be protected going to school. You know, not something like this to happen is so sad, and we don’t want it to happen to no other kids,” his mother Tia Leak told the station.
As an extra precaution, the school also reminded its students that they are only permitted to eat snacks during scheduled lunch periods and cannot share for the sake of general health and safety.
Schools across the country have struggled to put a lid on the flow of edibles into the classroom.
In late March, six students at one Mississippi school were hospitalized after eating edibles handed out by a classmate.
And in Queens, a teacher nicknamed “Mr.Blunt” allegedly doled out weed to a student he was sexually abusing as a means to keep her under his control, according to a lawsuit filed in January.
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