A D.C. elementary school student shared gummies suspected of containing a controlled substance, leading to several students feeling unwell and five being hospitalized.
It happened Wednesday afternoon at Northwest D.C.’s Key Elementary School. In a letter to the school community, Assistant Principal Jennifer Green said the controlled substance in the gummies, which the student brought and shared with several others in the fifth grade, has not been identified.
However, several students started feeling unwell and went to the nurse’s office.
Due to the severity of the illness, D.C. Fire and EMS personnel arrived to assess the students, and it was determined that their symptoms “aligned with ingestion of the controlled substance,” Green said.
Five students were taken to the hospital for continued monitoring; the school notified the families of all students involved.
The school said it would hold talks around substance use awareness and prevention with the fifth-grade students, as well as “prioritizing restorative practice in relation to this incident.”
The school is asking parents to remind their children not to ingest unknown foods or substances, even if a friend or acquaintance offers it.
Last month, four students at a Northwest D.C. school were taken to the hospital after consuming an “unidentified edible,” WUSA9 reported.
A school nurse told WTOP last March that it can be “quite scary” for someone who tries edibles — food into which cannabis has been incorporated — for the first time.
District public schools last month announced the establishment of a drug, alcohol and tobacco unit.
