Superior Heights student hospitalized after eating cannabis-laced cookie, says mom

11:52 a.m. update:

Algoma District School Board says incidents at Superior Heights and Korah were unrelated. The board issued the following statement:

All incidents impacting the safety and well-being of our students are taken seriously. ADSB is continuing to investigate two unrelated incidents at two different schools in which edibles were consumed. ADSB confirms that there is no connection between these two incidents and both involve very different circumstances and details, each resulting in different responses and actions. We assure parents/guardians that they would be informed if there was cause for concern at any particular school site.

7:52 a.m. original story:

Monday was a scary day for the Reid family.

Pamela Reid is the mother of Coco – a Grade 11 student at Superior Heights who has cerebral palsy and scoliosis.

The family says Coco was offered a chocolate chip cookie by a male student in between morning classes earlier this week.

Shortly after accepting and consuming a piece of the cookie, Coco became violently ill.

“She said she doesn’t really know the boy who gave her the cookie,” Reid says. “She has seen him in the hall but doesn’t know his name. He would always say hi to her and open the door for her, but she doesn’t know his name or grade.”

“She had no idea there was anything in it.”

Reid says that Superior Heights called her around 11:30 that morning to explain that Coco had thrown up several times, looked extremely pale, and wasn’t putting words together properly.

“My other daughter, her twin sister, said she had never seen Coco like this before,” Reid says.

The mother called a U-Cab to have her picked up and taken to the hospital, and Reid met her daughter there shortly after.

“She was throwing up a lot of green and she was passing out,” Reid says. “I was trying to keep her awake so she didn’t fall out of her wheelchair. She was slurring her words and she didn’t know where she was half the time.”

Coco was released from the hospital several hours later, and Reid says they received a toxicology report from the hospital Tuesday afternoon that confirmed Coco had consumed cannabis.

While her daughter was doing significantly better the following day, Reid is now concerned that Coco may not be the only student affected, noting that a 13-year-old boy from Korah Collegiate may have been involved in a similar circumstance as well.

“A boy came into the hospital about an hour after we arrived,” Reid says. “My niece was talking to the boy’s mother, and she said her son got a cookie from someone at school, and the next thing they knew they were at the hospital.”

The concerned mother says the school is supposed to be looking over cameras to investigate the situation and is expecting to hear from the principal soon.

While it’s currently unknown who gave Coco the cookie, Reid isn’t mincing any words when it comes to the culprit.

“I’m going to have that boy charged – simple,” she says.

Meanwhile, in an email to SooToday, Algoma District School Board superintendent Marcy Bell issued the following statement:

The Algoma District School Board has been made aware that there is information circulating in social media and reminds readers that information shared on social media may be presented out of context and without all of the facts. We assure our parents/guardians that ADSB takes all incidents impacting the safety and well-being of our students seriously, including drugs or alcohol in our schools, and parents would be informed if there was cause for concern at any particular school site.

Kelsy Charrette, a senior bud guide at a local cannabis retailer, says education is extremely important following a situation like the Reids found themselves in.

“Cannabis has been in the schools for years, it’s not anything new,” she says. “But the fact that kids don’t know about it being in cookies, and because cookies are so appealing to children, is concerning.”

“This situation is basically drugging or poisoning in my opinion – it’s just cruel.”

While Charrette recognizes there’s speculation surrounding the validity of the incident, she insists it’s still important to take this as an opportunity to spread awareness and make sure it doesn’t happen again.

“You should only trust an adult at a school,” she says. “You don’t know what kids could be bringing from home. It’s just like if you had a food allergy, you don’t know what’s in something that someone is giving you.”

“There are so many negative effects that can come from eating cannabis,” she adds. “If you don’t know where it’s coming from or if you have to question it, then just say no.”

For more information on cannabis and youth, visit here.