Updated (2/5/2019 12:00 pm Pacific Standard Time)

Cleveland police have arrested the mother of the boy who brought the weed gummies with him to his elementary school on Monday. According to police, Shari Gould was arrested and charged with endangering children on Tuesday after being questioned in the case.

Investigators have learned that Gould had hosted a party at her apartment on Sunday night at which friends were smoking and drinking. At the party, an aunt gave some gummy bears to the boy and two friends, because she “was not in her right mind,” according to a statement provided to school staff members and reported by local media. The boy was then encouraged by other children to get more of the gummies from his mother. The boy then retrieved the entire bag of infused candy and put it in his school bag for the next day. Police say that Gould was unaware that he took them.

The following day, a staff member at Anton Grdina School found the bag in a classroom and alerted school officials. Administrators then reviewed security camera video from the classroom to determine which students had eaten the candy. The children were questioned by school officials and police were called. Nine of the children were then taken to the hospital after complaining of stomach pains, but only one of them, the boy who had brought the gummies, tested positive for THC.

Original Story (2/4/2019)

Nine children were taken to a Cleveland hospital on Monday after they were given cannabis gummies at their elementary school, according to media reports. Police responded to Anton Grdina Elementary School on the city’s east side after a total of 14 students ate some of the weed-infused gummies.

Emergency medical services personnel were also dispatched to the school and transported three 5-year-old girls, one 5-year-old boy, three 6-year-old boys, one 9-year-old boy, and an 8-year-old boy to Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital at University Hospital, according to a police spokesman. The children taken to the hospital complained of stomach pains and are reported to be in stable condition.

The parents of the other children who had eaten the marijuana candy declined medical attention.

Officials believe the students were given the pot gummies by a 5-year-old pupil. Police are investigating the case to determine how the child obtained the gummies that were taken to the school.

School District Notifies Parents

A statement from the Cleveland Metropolitan School District issued an update on the situation to parents and the media on Monday afternoon.

“As a precaution today, EMS was called examine several students to determine whether gummy bears shared with them by other students during lunch may have been marijuana-laced. This precaution was taken because the packaging of the candy was not recognizable to school staff,” the notice reads.

“The students involved were examined and their parents called,” it continues. “Although we have not yet received a report on the suspicious candy, the principal used the opportunity to remind parents and caregivers of the importance of keeping medicines and other items that may be harmful to children locked up to ensure the safety of all students.”

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