Grade 5 student shares pot candy

A 9-year-old student in New Mexico gave fellow students gummies — only to realize later they were not ordinary candies.

The candies had apparently been laced with tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the chemical responsible for how marijuana affects the brain, and were being used by the student’s parents as medical marijuana.

Kristi Del Curto, dean of elementary students at Albuquerque School of Excellence, told the Albuquerque Journal the fifth-grader brought the box of gummies she found at home and shared with friends at the school cafeteria one morning. “She thought she was sharing candy, and if you saw the picture on the box, it did look like candy,” Del Curto told the paper.

The student later felt dizzy during class and was sent to the school nurse. After school officials determined the fifth-grader had eaten THC-laced gummies, students were asked over the school’s public address system who else had the candies, the paper reported. Del Curto said five other students had gummies. Some did not seem to have been affected, and some others were “giggly,” she said. The student who brought the candies felt ill after eating five. School officials told parents about the incident, which happened a little over a week ago, according to the school’s Facebook page.

“We would like to remind all students and parents to be cautious about food/drink sharing . . . and we would like our community to be alert with drugs and any edibles that may or could be in different formats,” the school wrote.

“We kindly ask our parents and community members not to talk explicitly about drugs/medicine when students are present.”