Six elementary students ended up in hospitals Tuesday. They ate what authorities believe were marijuana edibles at Thomas Edison Elementary School in Detroit. The children recovered, district officials said.
Detroit Public Schools Community District officials want stricter state and local policies. These would keep cannabis products away from minors. Officials also urged families to lock up edibles at home and speak with their children about consuming only food or candy brought from home or purchased by the family.
“The consumption of edibles by youth has been an ongoing and increasing challenge since legalization, and one that Superintendent (Nikolai) Vitti has called for greater restriction of sales statewide and especially in the City, along with an increase in ad campaigns in the City explaining the health risk associated with youth consumption of marijuana edibles,” said a spokesperson for the district per CBS News.
Superintendent Nikolai Vitti has said the district handles hundreds of drug-related incidents each year. Many involve marijuana edibles, according to The Detroit News.
Michigan voters legalized recreational marijuana use among adults age 21 and older when they passed a 2018 ballot initiative. Sales began in December 2019.
Similar incidents have occurred at area schools since legalization went into effect. In February 2023, students at a Warren middle school got sick after a classmate handed out cookies and gummies containing THC, the chemical in marijuana that produces a high.
A Livonia charter school student was hospitalized in May 2022. A classmate gave him a marijuana edible.
That same month, a Genesee County mom was charged with second-degree child abuse after her son brought THC-infused gummies to Edgerton Elementary School near Clio. Four kindergarteners got sick.
The Tuesday incident at Edison Elementary School on Grand River marks the latest case in what officials describe as a growing problem across the region.
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