An incident in which Jonesboro elementary school students ingested THC-infused gummies in December resulted in misdemeanor charges for the grandmother of one of the students.
Rosie Euell, identified by a Jonesboro police spokeswoman as a grandmother of one of the children, is charged with two misdemeanors in the case and will appear in Craighhead County District Court on Monday.
Euell, 67, is charged with endangering the welfare of a minor in the third degree, a class B misdemeanor.
On December 16, six children at a Jonesboro elementary school ingested THC-infused gummies after a 6-year-old brought them to school and handed them out to classmates, according to a police report. The parents of the six children were contacted and took their children to local hospitals for evaluation. One “panicked” parent called the police as she drove her child to the hospital, the report said.
A photo of the package of gummies provided by a parent to KAIT TV in Jonesboro showed that the gummies were made in California. The packages of “Dank Gummies” and “Stoner Patch Dummies” contained 500mg of THC for the whole pack, and each dose contained 50mg of THC. That dosage would exceed the 10mg limit for cannabis products made in Arkansas and sold at the state’s dispensaries. The packages also featured graphics of marijuana leaves that would not be allowed under the Arkansas medical marijuana program.
In a separate incident late last month, three students at Dwight Elementary School in Russellville ingested THC edibles and were taken to a local hospital after a student brought what he thought was candy from home, according to information provided by the Russellville Police Department.
A spokesman for the Russellville School District declined to comment on the incident.
Andrew Reeves, public information officer for the Russellville police, said the incident involved out-of-state THC products that were not from an Arkansas dispensary. Reeves said he would not know more about the products until the state crime lab performs tests. The Russellville police have an open investigation into the matter, he said.
A study released last month in the medical journal Pediatrics analyzed data from the National Poison Data System and found a significant increase in reports of children’s exposures to edible cannabis.
