ST. LOUIS — Four Sumner High School students were taken to a hospital Wednesday afternoon as a precaution after eating gummies that may have contained THC.
Six other students were evaluated for symptoms and released to their parents, according to George Sells, communications director for St. Louis Public Schools. All of the students were doing OK as of Wednesday afternoon.
Sells said it appeared another student had brought to school what the St. Louis Fire Department described as "some type of edible or gummy" after buying them at a nearby convenience store.
"That student has been identified and will be disciplined according to the SLPS code of conduct," Sells said.
The students who ate them ranged from sophomores to seniors.
“Children who ate them, they became nauseous, didn’t feel well. It started with two and then two more,” Sells said.
“Classes went on as normal … Everybody is alert, feeling fine. Nobody was badly injured or anything like that,” said Sells.
THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, is the main psychoactive compound of marijuana.
“Health affect associated with THC can be wide-ranging," Prevent Ed Executive Director Nichole Dawsey said. "If someone has too much of that THC substance it can interfere with the body’s reality to function. That’s not just thinking clearly, but that also affects heart rate, their respiratory, their breathing. Even as cannabis has become legalized for adult use in the state of Missouri, there are still many places that are selling things that are unregulated and they’re preying on kids and others who are looking to get a high."
The community health agency works to reduce or prevent the harms of alcohol or other drug use through education, intervention and advocacy.