Children Hospitalized After Eating Candy Containing THC—Acquired At A Utah Food Bank

After having eaten been candy that had been given to them from a local Utah food bank, two children have reportedly been hospitalized. The two children were admitted after eating the candy that was found to contain high levels of THC.

On Friday night, the parents of an 11-year-old and that of a 5-year-old rushed their children to the hospital. It was discovered that the children had consumed “Medicated Nerds Rope” candy that the families had been given through a food distribution campaign by a church working in conjunction with the Utah Food Bank.

According to the report filed by the Roy City Police, volunteers with the food bank was believed to have distributed over 60 bags of the candy, each bag of which was said to contain three to four servings of the rope candy.

Labels within the candy packages stated that each one contained the equivalent of 400 milligrams of the THC drug. Just for a reference, a standard adult prescription is usually in the amount of 15 to 45 milligrams of the drug. THC is the psychoactive component contained within marijuana.

Law enforcement officials stated that as many as three other children were known to have consumed the candy containing THC, but those children were known to have been taken to the hospital.

The CEO and president of the Utah Food Bank, Ginette Bott, issued an apology to any families that in fact may have received this product. In a statement to an NBC affiliate, KSL, in Salt Lake City, Utah, Bott offered: “We are absolutely horrified that this product went to any of our partner agencies, and can easily see how volunteers would not have known what to look for.”

Bott also informed that the processes involving such donations as this type would be updated and changed immediately to prevent this type of situation from happening again. This incident came as the ever-growing demand for food and donations has grown exponentially due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

The interim pastor of the church where the candy was accidentally distributed, John Thomas, stated volunteers had been trying out a new delivery system in their effort to put into place precautions related to the coronavirus.

Under normal conditions, Thomas explained, those in need would come into the church and choose the items that they needed. However, now volunteers were issuing bags of previously packaged food to those in need through a drive-thru type set-up.

Should the parents of the children taken the precautions of checking the children’s candy?