ORANGE PARK, Fla. – The father of a 15-year-old student at Ridgeview High School said he received a disturbing phone call Monday morning from the school.
“We have the suspicion that she may be under the influence because she is not stable and losing her balance,” he said the caller told him.
The father, who spoke to News4JAX on a condition of anonymity, said his daughter was rushed to a hospital, where she spent six hours after she consumed an edible believed to have been infused with THC, the primary substance found in marijuana.
“It was very heartbreaking. That’s for sure. It was nerve-racking as well because I’ve never seen her in that state,” he said.
It’s the second time News4JAX has learned of a hospitalization such as this having happened locally within the past seven days. He said doctors ran tests that came back positive for marijuana poisoning.
“They’re saying that if she did not get to the hospital, other things could have gone from bad to worse,” the father said.
Clay County School District police started an investigation that revealed a student brought marijuana brownies to school and shared them with the girl and another student. All three students reportedly ate the brownies, but only the one girl reportedly got seriously sick after eating one.
A Jacksonville mother said Monday that her daughter, a Westside High School student who has special needs, was rushed to the hospital last Wednesday, where doctors discovered marijuana in her system.
RELATED: Student with special needs collapses after consuming THC-laced edible, mother says
“She collapsed on the ground and started throwing up. I tried to get her back up and she could barely stand,” said the mother, who also spoke on a condition of anonymity.
The girl told her parents that a classmate gave her a “Lucky Charms snack bar.” Although her mom believes the bar may have contained THC, she spoke with investigators who told her surveillance video showed her daughter and other students eating candy that looked like Lemonheads.
That incident and the one in Clay County are both currently under investigation. Clay County School District Police Chief Kenneth Wagner is strongly urging all parents to talk to their children about the dangers of drugs.
He says that although these cases appear to only involve marijuana, kids need to know that marijuana affects people differently.
“When you go to a hospital, they always ask if you are allergic to certain medications because what happens to one person may not happen to another,” Wagner said.