[[{“value”:”
SHREVEPORT, La. – Groups of students at two schools in south Louisiana were rushed to hospitals this week after reportedly eating THC-laced gummies. These hemp-derived products are widely available at vape shops and convenience stores across the state, and they are ending up in the hands of children, despite state laws requiring all purchasers be at least 21 years old.
According to media reports, on Monday, several students at Iberia Middle School in New Iberia required medical attention after consuming THC-laced gummies that a student brought to school and shared with other students. There are reports of students leaving the school on stretchers and being loaded into ambulances.
In Baton Rouge, WBRZ-TV reported on Thursday that five children at Geo Prep Mid-City Academy were taken to the hospital after becoming sick at school. Sources in their report say they believe the students consumed edibles.
Early Monday, sources also told KTBS about a 17-year-old high school student in Baton Rouge who was in intensive care at a local hospital over the weekend after consuming five gummies containing THC-P, a new cannabinoid growing in popularity due to its potency and psychoactive properties.
Since 2015, marijuana has been legal for Louisiana adults to consume for medical purposes. Marijuana contains the psycho-active ingredient tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a cannabinoid that can make individuals feel high. The marijuana-derived THC products, that include edible candies, require a prescription, and they are only available through a small number of pharmacies across the state. These products are highly regulated and frequently tested by state officials for safety.
The products causing growing concern are hemp-derived edibles which Louisiana legislators legalized in 2022. They do not require a prescription and are widely available. Many state legislators today say they regret legalizing the Hemp products and were given erroneous information right before they voted for passage.
Then House Speaker Clay Schexnayder stated on the house floor before the vote that it would take “tractor-trailer loads to even get the percentage of THC that you would need to get high.” This turned out to be incorrect.
“When I found this out, I was absolutely horrified,” said State Representative Dodie Horton (R-Haughton) last spring during a committee hearing on a bill sponsored by State Senator Thomas Pressly that would have banned hemp-derived edibles. The bill ultimately failed to pass.
Since 2022, the hemp industry has become big business as product manufacturers have developed increasingly potent candies, such as those containing THC-P, another cannabinoid that scientists only learned about in 2019. It is believed to be 33 times stronger than delta 9, which is the most common ingredient in hemp-derived THC edibles.
Joey Jones is a forensic toxicologist who is also the director of the North Louisiana Criminalistic Laboratory, and he says he finds THC-P “horrifying.”
“What scares me the most about it is that it’s an experiment on humans because we don’t have longitudinal studies as to what does this do long term in the human body,” said Jones. “You get this intense euphoria and people love it, but what’s going to happen 30 years down the road or what’s going to happen in an adolescent brain?”
In January 2023, the Louisiana Poison Center based at LSU Health Shreveport issued an alert about the growing number of calls they are receiving about kids ingesting THC gummies. In 2018 there were four cases reported. In 2022, that number rose to 62.
“Most of the cases that we’ve had called into the poison control center and seen locally are generally children with accidental ingestions. Maybe a gummy fell on the floor or something and a toddler gets it,” said Dr. Tom Arnold, the medical director of the Louisiana Poison Center.
Arnold says parents should look out for the warning signs of a dangerous overdose. Those signs include extreme lethargy, excitation, hallucinations, and paranoia.
In Iberia, the superintendent of the school district issued a statement to parents following the incident on Monday. He said he wants parents to warn their children about the dangers of these products.
The statement says in part, “In light of this event, we encourage you to have conversations with your children about the potential dangers of them accepting food or candy from their peers. It’s important for them to understand that not everything that looks like candy is safe to consume.”
”}]] SHREVEPORT, La. – Groups of students at two schools in south Louisiana were rushed to hospitals this week after reportedly eating THC-laced gummies. These hemp-derived products are widely available at Read More