ST. LOUIS — Jeff Rowse is both an educator and employee at Feel State Dispensary in Florissant. Hearing the news about several Sumner students taking edibles at school didn't surprise him. Rowse said variants they could've gotten their hands on include Delta 8, 9 or 10.
"I'm not necessarily happy about it happening. It doesn't paint my industry in the best light," Rowse said.
St. Louis Public School spokesperson, George Sells confirmed a student bought the products which contained THC at a nearby convenience store and passed them out Wednesday to other students. Four students were hospitalized and another six were evaluated for their symptoms and later released to their parents.
"If you're a chemist with a business plan and the proper packaging you can sell these products to anyone willing to buy them and that's why you see them in convenience stores and liquor stores," Rowse said.
In 2018, the Farm Bill federally legalized cannabis with less than point three percent THC in it, which classifies it as hemp.
"They did this to bolster the CBD industry but it created a glut on the market because people had all this CBD lying around. They started to focus on other cannabinoids like THC and that is likely the product those kids took," Rowse said.
Feel State Dispensary said convenience stores market it with flashy packaging.
It all comes on the heels of the first anniversary of legalizing recreational marijuana in the state of Missouri.
Nicholas Wegman, the general manager with the dispensary, said situations like these further increase a negative imagine.
"It's always an uphill battle in the cannabis industry because it's so new here. For the most part the reception has been overwhelming but there's still people out there that operate with that stigma in mind," Wegman said.
Rowse worries if federal lawmakers don't create more regulation for hemp intoxicates sold in convenience stores, it could affect the industry in the long run.
"It kind of of goes back to just say no again. People are going to start to think we need to go back to illegalization," Rowse said.
The district spokesperson for St. Louis Public Schools said the student who distributed the edibles has been identified and will be disciplined according to the district's code of conduct.