Two children have been hospitalized after eating marijuana gummies they got at a food bank.
“An 11-year-old and a 5-year-old were taken to a hospital Friday night after consuming ‘Medicated Nerds Rope’ candy given to their families as part of a food distribution effort from a church working with the Utah Food Bank,” according to NBC.
And there’s more candy out there — according to the Roy City Police, “more than 60 bags contained three to four servings of the candy rope [were distributed].”
The candy is particularly potent as “labels in the candy indicate that each one contains 400 milligrams of THC. Adults are normally prescribed between 15 to 45 milligrams of the psychoactive marijuana component.”
The “donations” appear to have been made by accident, and Utah Food Bank president and CEO Ginette Bott apologized “to any families who may have received this product,” adding, “we are absolutely horrified that this product went out to any of our partner agencies, and can easily see how volunteers would not have known what to look for,” she told a local NBC affiliate.
Three other children also consumed the candy, but were not taken to a hospital.
According to a statement by Ferrara Candy Company, the parent company of Nerds, “this product is counterfeit and in no way associated with Ferrara Candy Company. We want to reassure consumers that Nerds products donated directly by the company, found at major retailers across the country or purchased through nerdscandy.com, are safe to consume. We have reached out to the local authorities and will continue to cooperate with their investigation.”