HOUSTON – Alief ISD Police are investigating allegations a student distributed cookies, believed to be laced with THC, to other students during a lunch break, district officials confirmed Thursday.
A district official confirmed to KPRC 2 the incident occurred Wednesday in the cafeteria at Ann Osterloh O’Donnell Middle School.
“The student distributing the edibles will be disciplined according to district policy. All parents of students involved have been contacted by school officials,” Alief ISD wrote in a statement to KPRC 2.
Alief ISD did not disclose the number of cookies distributed, but said: “parents of students involved have been contacted by school officials.”
Ashley Smith said she was one of the parents to be notified. Smith said her 12-year-old daughter did not know the cookie was laced with THC until after she had eaten half of one.
“She basically told me that there was a student there distributing edibles out,” Smith said.
According to Smith, the student who brought the cookies to school gave one to her daughter, telling her it was an edible marijuana cookie after she had ingested it. Smith said her daughter began to feel sick in her next class.
“She told her gym coach that she wasn’t feeling well, and when they brought her to the office, she told them everything that had happened to her and that multiple students had received those cookies,” Smith said.
Smith said her daughter was sent to a nurse’s office where she slept for two hours. She said that’s when she was notified about what happened.
“That’s just totally unacceptable,” Smith said, adding school administration should have contacted her sooner.
She said once she arrived at the school she spoke to the principal.
“He told me it was out of his control,” Smith said, referring to an answer as to how no one noticed the cookies. Smith said school administrators told her two pounds worth of cookies were confiscated.
While her daughter, a seventh-grader at O’Donnell Middle School, was better Thursday, Smith said she’s confused because she feels as if she ingested drugs. Smith said she rushed her daughter to an emergency room where a urinalysis confirmed Cannabinoids in her daughter’s system.
The family said this could have been much worse.
“It could have been a situation where it was like fentanyl or any type of those new drugs,” said Sean Walker, the girl’s father.
Both Walker and Smith said they don’t want what happened to their daughter to happen to another child and are demanding an investigation from Alief ISD administrators.
“No one should have to have a fear of sending their children to school,” the parents said.
Alief ISD released the following statement in regards to the incident:
“The health and safety of our students and staff is our first priority. The O’Donnell MS Administrative team and Alief ISD Police are investigating an alleged incident involving a student that distributed edibles in the cafeteria today. The student distributing the edibles will be disciplined according to district policy. All parents of students involved have been contacted by school officials.”