MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – A 9-year-old girl was hospitalized Tuesday after eating marijuana edibles that she thought were Airheads at her elementary school in Miami Gardens.
Authorities said Chrissionna Symonette, who attends Bunche Park Elementary, ate a marijuana edible there known as “Gas Heads.”
Chrissionna told her father that she got the edible from a fifth grader at the school on Tuesday morning. She says she and several of her classmates ate the candy and felt like they had very little energy throughout the school day. Some of her classmates even went to the nurse’s office after eating the edibles.
Chauncy Symonette, Chrissionna’s father, told Local 10 News that he noticed his daughter wasn’t acting herself when he picked her up from school.
“She wasn’t herself,” he said. “She was (acting) out of the ordinary. I was asking her things like her birthday (and) she didn’t know it.”
Chauncey Symontte said it wasn’t until later in the day that family members began to make the connection.
“She’s like, ‘Dad, I have to pack right here. This the candy,”' he said. “When I looked at it and I seen what it was, I just was in shock and disbelief.”
The Gas Heads Xtremes edible is made to look like a sour candy called “Airheads Xtreme.”
Authorities say the bottom of the Gas Heads wrapper has a small marijuana leaf on it and its THC dosage at the bottom, but the rest of the packaging and graphics are nearly identical.
Chauncey Symonette told Local 10 News that he took his daughter to urgent care, where tests showed that she has cannabis in her system. She was then treated with IV fluids and is expected to make a full recovery.
Chrissionna’s family says they are grateful that she is OK but want answers as to how students were able to get access to the edibles.
“Somebody has to be addressed about this because it could’ve been worse,” said Prestina Hardy, Chrissionna’s grandmother. “It could’ve been fatal because we don’t know what’s in these edibles.”
In Lauderdale Lakes, a 12-year-old student also recently became ill after consuming marijuana.
Kristy Bradley said her son Derick Gage age a marijuana edible at Lauderdale Lakes Middle School on Monday.
The boy said another student gave it to him and he had no idea it contained drugs, since it looked like a regular candy.
“It was pink, it wasn’t exactly hard, it felt like a Sour Patch (Kid), but it wasn’t a Sour Patch (Kid),” Gage said.
Local 10 News reporter Liane Morejon asked Chrissionna “What did you learn after all this?”
“Don’t eat nothing from nobody,” Chrissionna replied.
Miami-Dade Public Schools released a statement Wednesday following the incident, which you can read here:
“A student at Bunche Park Elementary shared some candy with classmates that caused them to become ill. Miami-Dade Schools Police Department, in conjunction, with school administration, is investigating this incident. At Miami-Dade County Public Schools the well-being and safety of our students is our biggest priority.”
Local 10 News reached out to Broward County Schools regarding the incident at Lauderdale Lakes middle but have not heard back as of Wednesday evening.
Police said no criminal charges were filed Wednesday, but the investigation is ongoing.