It's illegal for restaurant employees to give each other marijuana-laced gummies—and the Cambridge License Commission wants the owner of Harvard Square's Hong Kong Restaurant to know it.

The License Commission decreed at a Nov. 16 meeting that Paul Lee, the owner of Hong Kong, had permitted illegalities on his premises, following an incident at the restaurant last month where at least two of his employees allegedly shared marijuana-laced gummy bears and one employee needed medical attention as a result. Lee told the commission he fired one of the employees, but Chairperson Nicole Murati Ferrer said that Lee hadn't gone far enough.

"This is a really big incident and allegation inside your premises, definitely involving two employees and maybe even more," said Murati Ferrer. "I think it's incumbent upon you to talk to your employees. This is a really big deal."

Elizabeth Lint, executive director of the License Commission, said in her 11 years on the job, she's never heard of a similar violation.

The incident occurred on Oct. 5. at around 10:30 p.m., when Cambridge police responded to Hong Kong, located at 1238 Massachusetts Ave., where they had received a report of a distressed woman sitting in her car, listening to music with her feet up on the dashboard.

"She was freaking out and talking nonsense," said Officer Matthew Grassi of the Cambridge Police Department at the Nov. 5 meeting. "She might have been given what they refer to as drugged-up gummy bears."

Police identified the woman as an employee at Hong Kong. The restaurant's manager, who was standing next to the car keeping an eye on the woman, told police he had been eating the gummy bears all day, and that he believed they were ordinary gummy bears. He had given the woman two of these bears at 10 p.m., after which she became unsteady on her feet, stopped talking, started to feel numb, and fled to her car.

Officer Nick Mochi said the woman's pupils were dilated and she was exhibiting manic behavior, both signs of marijuana overdose.

"Trying to get a statement from her was very difficult," said Mochi. "She rolled her window up on me and locked her vehicle."

When asked by the License Commission to define the gummies' main ingredient, THC, Mochi explained that it's a chemical present in the female marijuana plant that causes users to get high.

The female employee was transported to the hospital, while police questioned the manager. Although the official Cambridge police report stated that the manager claimed he didn't know the gummies were laced with THC, Det. Kevin Donofrio said that under further questioning, the manager eventually admitted he knew the gummies were laced with THC, and he obtained them from the doorman at Hong Kong. He was arrested and charged with distribution. That night, after he posted bail, the manager returned to CPD to give officers the packaging from the gummies.

"It's a professionally manufactured gummy bear that has clear markings on it that it contains THC," said Donofrio at the Nov. 5 meeting. "He said he wanted to turn them into us to see if there was anything in there that would cause a side effect."

Marijuana has been decriminalized in Massachusetts since 2008, with possession of up to an ounce punishable by a $100 fine. But sharing marijuana with friends or colleagues can be considered distribution, even if no money changed hands — and distribution is still a criminal offense.

Grassi said following the Nov. 8 ballot referendum to legalize the possession and sale of marijuana in Massachusetts, the manager's actions might still be considered illegal. It's likely the new law will only allow licensed vendors to distribute marijuana, and unlicensed hand-to-hand distribution will still be a punishable offense.

Lee, the owner of Hong Kong, was at home at the time of the Oct. 5 incident, but he came to the restaurant that night and allowed police to search the premises. They didn't find any other weed gummies, and the doorman denied that he had given the gummies to the manager.

Lee told the License Commission that he fired the manager, but the woman and the doorman are still working at the restaurant. He said he hadn't talked to the doorman about the incident and he didn't want to fire anyone based on allegations.

"It's well known among the employees that drugs are not tolerated. ... They know that's something we don't tolerate at all in the restaurant," he said.

But the License Commission said that Lee needed to take further action to prevent a future, similar incident.

"I have no doubt in my mind that this is a violation. I want to consider the type of disciplinary action, considering [Hong Kong's] unblemished record of the past 10 years," said Murati Ferrer. "You need to go back to your place now and talk to your employees. Putting up a poster is not enough. Having another manager do this for you is not enough. Whether an employee is embarrassed about conduct that she either knowingly or unknowingly participated in, that's neither here nor there. If you can't do the tough job to tackle these issues, then you need to get someone who can."

The License Commission will vote on Lee's punishment at its next meeting, which is scheduled for Dec. 7. Lint said that there's no stipulation in the law about potential punishments, and that the commission will deliberate internally about how to penalize Lee.