ST. LOUIS — Several students had to go to the hospital after ingesting marijuana edibles at a St. Louis middle school.
This happened at the North Side Community School, in Midtown, in the arts district of the Grand Center area.
The school's executive director Doug Thaman said, two eighth graders brought candy edibles to the middle school and gave them to other classmates on Thursday.
Six students got sick, three went to the hospital.
On Friday, the students were back at home and doing better, Thaman shared.
"The students who brought the edibles, we referred them to law enforcement," he added.
He also explained, consequences from the school are being worked out.
Thaman believes this is connected to curiosity, especially after Amendment 3 passed this week, which legalizes recreational marijuana use in Missouri for adults.
Thaman explained, "We think it has a lot to do with that, a lot of curiosity."
The nonprofit PreventEd has also seen this issue grow over the years.
Executive Director Nichole Dawsey says, "locally and nationwide, we have been seeing more kids either accidentally or intentionally ingesting edibles. Kids are curious and not all kids know what they are doing."
PreventEd partners with more than 200 schools in the eastern region of Missouri, 600 kids a year and works to educate families on topics just like these ones.
Dawsey explains they start talking to students as young as kindergarten.
But it's really around the middle school age where the conversations build up.
"Around fifth grade, which evidence suggests is the prime talking age about drugs, we’ll introduce age-appropriate materials. Alcohol, tobacco and cannabis, medicine safety," Dawsey shared.
She believes this could be a tremendous learning point for the school, the parents and the community.
"We know with edibles the potency is most often much stronger. When you're dealing with kids who make rash decisions because their brains aren’t fully developed that’s a perfect storm like what happened yesterday," Dawsey notes.
She explained that some students accidentally take edibles, others are curious and some trying to cope.
That's why she encourages an open dialogue between parents and their children, especially after the passing of Amendment 3.
She says it's okay to talk about what this amendment does and what it doesn't do.
"How can caregivers talk to their kids early, we suggest early and often. Ask them, 'Who is allowed to give you medicine, if you see something you don’t know what it is, what should you do?''' she said.
Dawsey also points out, if an adult plans to use it in a recreational manner after legalization, to be mindful.
"If you’re going to be using this, really consider how it’s locked up like we talk about locking up prescription medicine. Treat cannabis like this," she says.
Thaman also agrees this could be an opportunity to learn an important lesson.
"Whether they knew or not know, that's where the role of parents and community to come in to make sure our kids are really educated. We are working on bringing some other organizations to do that education work with the kids," he says.
If you need access to age-appropriate talking kits, you can visit this website.