FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - A mother of one of the five students from Stranahan High School who were hospitalized after they consumed edibles made her way to a Fort Lauderdale Police Station on Wednesday night, after she says a normal school day took a turn for the worse.
School district officials said the students got sick after they ingested some kind of edible at the school, located at 1800 SW Fifth Place, on Wednesday morning.
“I don’t put anything past any child, but the bottom line is she was drugged,” said Tshura Jones. “I’m going to press charges.”
Jones said her 14-year-old daughter, who is a freshman at the high school, was one of those students who was transported to Broward Health Medical Center as a precaution.
She said it all started with a text from her daughter early Wednesday morning requesting to be picked up early.
“I got the message at 9:21 a.m. stating, ‘Mom, can I come home? I’m not feeling well,” said Jones, recalling the message. “‘I took one of the candies, and right now, I’m feeling like I wanna pass out, so I said ‘OK, that is not candy. It is laced, and you need to get to the nurse immediately.”
Jones said her daughter did not know what she was ingesting, only that another student presented it to her as some sort of candy, and she started snacking on it during class.
7News spoke to the shaken teen moments after her release from the hospital on Wednesday. Her mother asked that her identity be kept private.
The 14-year-old said the substance tasted like candy.
“They pulled out something in a green bag, and it tasted like candy,” she said.
She said she wasn’t the only one who ingested the candy, but soon found out it had been laced with marijuana.
“There was a girl who passed out in the classroom. I was scared,” said the young girl.
The teen added that the edible gave her an “out of body experience.”
Other students provided additional details of the incident to 7News.
“It’s like different colors, and it looked like regular candy, but 10 minutes later, they just passed out. I was like, ‘Wow,'” said witness Brandon Jordan.
“How does a child get a hold of edibles?” said another student.
“Students shouldn’t be indulging in this type of activity at school,” said a third student.
“You don’t know where it came from. Don’t take it!” said a fourth student.
Jones added she got scared when she heard the news, but is thankful her daughter is OK.
Now, she hopes this will be a lesson for parents to look at what their kids are bringing to school and to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again.
“I used to work in a rehab facility. I know fentanyl, these drugs, she could’ve had that, and that would’ve been it for my daughter. Why bring drugs into a school? You come here to learn,” she said.
As her daughter physically recovers from Wednesday’s events, Jones said the emotional toll this nightmare has taken weighs even heavier on them.
“It’s disheartening because now she’s telling me she doesn’t want to come back,” said Jones. “I don’t feel safe sending her to school.”
The teenage girl was treated for nausea, but she and the other students are expected to be OK.
Jones said her daughter is facing school suspension as a result of the incident.
The other students are also facing disciplinary action, but it’s unclear what exactly it will be.
As of late Wednesday evening, officials have not specified where those edibles came from or how they were brought to campus.
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