13 schoolgirls taken to hospital after eating ‘cannabis sweets’

THIRTEEN girls at a leading Catholic school were taken to hospital yesterday after eating ‘dodgy sweets’ laced with cannabis.

A Year 9 pupil was handing round ‘jelly bears’ containing the class B drug, according to some parents.

Several 13- and 14-year-olds quickly fell ill, with some vomiting in class after the morning break. ‘Panicking’ teachers called 999 and paramedics descended on La Sainte Union Catholic School in Highgate, north London.

The London Ambulance Service sent five crews, medics in cars and specialist incident response officers.

One family source said: ‘A bunch of Year 9s took some cannabis edibles and some passed out, and there was a lot of throwing up at lunchtime.’

Medics called in the Metropolitan Police and its officers are trying to establish what happened.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said last night: ‘We understand the sweets contained THC. We await tests to establish the quantity.’ THC is the principal psychoactive constituent of cannabis.

The spokesman said no arrests were made and the school stayed open.

The 159-year-old girls school, opposite Hampstead Heath, is surrounded by townhouses worth millions of pounds.

With 1,032 students aged 11 to 18, it was rated ‘good’ in a 2019 Ofsted report. Alumni include singer Tulisa and Harry Potter actress Imelda Staunton.

A spokesman for the school confirmed the pupils ‘became ill after eating what they believed were sweets’, adding: ‘We have made parents aware of this incident.’