Elementary School Students Hospitalized After Eating Pot Brownie

Costa Mesa, CA — Seven elementary school students were hospitalized after another student allegedly gave them a pot brownie.

Six boys and one girl were sent to the nurse’s office and firefighters were called to Pomona Elementary School after the children complained of difficulty breathing, nausea, and vomiting. The students were between 10 and 12 years old. Costa Mesa Fire Department Battalion Chief Fred Seguin said all seven children were taken to a nearby hospital and then released to their parents.

The sixth-grader who brought the brownie, and allegedly passed it around to classmates during mid-morning recess, didn’t tell the other students that it was laced with marijuana. After one student complained that the brownie tasted funny, the sixth-grader admitted that it had been drugged.

Principal Megan Brown informed parents of the incident in an email, and said that counselors would be available to students. She also said a meeting with parents on drug use would be scheduled. Brown said the identities of the students who were hospitalized and the student who brought in the pot brownie would remain confidential.

“Luckily, all seven of the students who were taken to the hospital are going to be OK,” Brown said in the email.

Costa Mesa Police are investigating the incident.

In December, two University of Colorado students were arrested after they gave pot brownies to unsuspecting classmates during a history class. The students that had eaten the pot brownie complained of dizziness and extreme sleepiness, while others reportedly blacked out. Two students and the professor were hospitalized after the incident, and five others were sickened.

The two students who brought in the brownies, 19-year-old Mary Elizabeth Essa and 21-year-old Thomas Ricardo Cunningham, were charged with two counts of conspiracy, suspicion of second-degree assault, and inducing the consumption of controlled substances by fraudulent means. Altogether, the two were charged with 18 felonies.

What do you think should happen to the student who gave his classmates a pot brownie?