The Edibles Outrage that erupted at St Luke's Methodist School hospitalized a total of 31 students and 7 adults and traumatized the entire community. These persons thought they were just having a sweet snack, but it turned out that they were unknowingly ingesting marijuana-infused sweets - commonly known as edibles.
And it's left the parents of the students with plenty of questions - where did the edibles come from? How did the vendors get a hold of them? And did they know what they were selling to children?
It's a mass outrage as these parents watched as their children were throwing up, crying, and experiencing episodes of anxiety and paranoia. The kids have been given days off from school to recover, but even today, many of them are still exhibiting symptoms, and the trauma they face is not likely to be forgotten any time soon.
But what was the situation today at the school? Courtney Menzies went there this morning and has this story.
The scene at St Luke's Methodist School this morning was the same as any other day: classes were open and children were being dropped off by their parents.
But after the marijuana edible outrage from yesterday, it isn't exactly business as usual, since the students and staff are now keeping an extra eye out for suspicious silver packets.
And while most of those hospitalized were discharged yesterday, two children were kept overnight, including the youngest child affected - a 5-year-old boy.
Today, his aunt - who is also a warden at the school - told us that she was the one who bought the candy from the female vendor, thinking it was a normal snack, until she realized she'd accidentally given her nephew and daughter dangerous drugs.
Shamar Tablada, Parent/Aunt of Students
"By the time I went to his class, he done in a slouching position, he was already going. He already looked droopy, his lip was white, it already changed color. So when I saw that, I grabbed him, and when I grabbed him, I heard upstairs they were saying bring everybody so that they can start drinking sugar and water."
"I had to back my nephew downstairs. My adopted daughter, she was going in and out of dizziness. When we reached in the vehicle, I have him, and I'm giving him water, but his eyes were shutting down and by the time I reached hospital gate, this little boy is passed out. Doctor said he came in in a coma-like state."
"How would I feel telling my sister that something I bought innocently killed my nephew, it sound like that could've happened, you know how I would've felt? I couldn't live with myself. Cause I literally buy that thing innocently just to try to support somebody. And this is the stupidness. She knew that's why I'm so mad with her because she knew. I'm more mad than anything I swear to God cause she knew."
"That little boy didn't have to eat that thing, he's in the hospital right now in the ICU area of the pediatric ward, he still hasn't come out, and that is what I'm mad with her for."
Tablada explained that she had confront the female vendor who sold her the packets, and the vendor admitted that she knew it wasn't for kids, but that she had forgotten before selling it.
And that one mistake caused chaos and terror to erupt at the school, sending over two dozen kids to the emergency room. And for one 13-year-old girl, even though she was home last night, she was still reeling from the effects.
Desiree Gordon, Mother of Student
"When I reached there, she was still nervous, so I asked her how she felt, she said she felt numb, she felt like her body was vibrating. So I just wanted to know what kind of drugs it was. The feeling that she was telling me, it isn't normal."
Courtney Menzies:
"And what's she like today?"
Desiree Gordon, Mother of Student
"She's still in the same condition because last night when we left from the hospital, we were good because after a couple hours, they flush them out with drips, they gave them Pedialyte and we came home so I said well everything is okay. But like an hour after, when she finished eating, she came and said, ma, the feeling is coming back. So I asked her how she felt, she said she felt nervous. and she held on to me, she said don't let me go."
"She was holding onto me, each room I went, she was holding on to me. I wanted to take a bath, I couldn't take the bath again, I said I had to lie down with her because it was like she's scared, she had this feeling that something would happen."
"The way how my daughter was reacting to it, it's not normal. She was hearing voices. Up to now this morning, she isn't normal. So I think I will take her back."
And even parents whose children didn't eat the drug-infused sweets were afraid to drop their kids off this morning.
Voice of: Parent
"It's really scary, I didn't even want to bring my children this morning. The first impression for me, when I heard about this whole situation, was that I wanted to take my children out because they're not safe honestly. So if I don't see any improvement from the school itself for the safety of our children, the future, then we as the parents need to do something about our child's safety."
Reporter
"What warning did you give your children this morning?"
Voice of: Parent
"My daughter is older enough to understand what not to do but my little son, he's in infant, his teacher is a very loving teacher, she teaches them to share and everything in the class, they take in their snacks and they share everything. So I told my son not to take anything from anyone. You could share yours but for you to take something from somebody, I do not care what it is, just say no thank you, I'm fine with what I have. That is the advice I gave my son."
And now these parents say it's time to close the gate to outside vendors.
Shamar Tablada, Parent/Aunt of Students
"We used to have a system whereby the kids don't go out for lunch, they bring their lunch and they eat on the compound so if we could go back to that to make it more safer, I think they should."
"I would like to see justice served because somebody could have died. The state of those kids, my poor little nephew, I would never want to put that on anybody else's kid."
Desiree Gordon, Mother of Student
"As I explained to the teachers yesterday, they're supposed to ban all the vendors from outside that come to sell because you don't know who is who and you don't know what they are selling to those kids."
Voice of: Parent
"To me the school needs to lock off everything from outside. They need to provide feeding programs, they need to provide snacks, they need to provide everything that has a student leaving the compound."
Now, these parents are waiting to see who will be held accountable for leaving these students stoned and traumatized.
We tried to speak to the principal, who said she was too busy to give an interview. We also reached out to the Ministry of Health, but the Minister, the CEO, as well as the Director of Public Health are out of the country at this time.
