Halifax police investigate edible cannabis ingestion at elementary school

Halifax Regional Police is investigating a suspected “drug ingestion” at an elementary school on Wednesday.

According to Const. John MacLeod, officers responded to Springvale Elementary School in connection to the possible drug ingestion around 2:45 p.m. A student allegedly brought packages of labeled cannabis edibles from home and shared them with four other students.

"They were cannabis edibles in the form of a gummy bear, essentially," said MacLeod. "The investigation is still ongoing and that’s part of the things we're looking into is where products came from specifically and again (we) will have to follow up with the students parents and the school as well."

The students went to hospital for treatment.

MaryAnne Carew, a specialist with Atlantic Canada Poison Centre, said cannabis edibles can make children very sick.

"Often we would first see that they become very drowsy, wobbly," Carew said. "What makes us very concerned is that they can become drowsy to the point that they can stop breathing.

"Since cannabis edibles have been legalized, we have seen a steady increase in our paediatric population getting into edibles. We received 63 calls solely on paediatric population consuming cannabis edibles, and last year we received 53 calls. If you have cannabis products in your home, edibles, baked goods, what we recommend is that it’s really important for you to lock those products up."

Ryan Lutes, president of the Nova Scotia Teachers Union, schools need more people to properly supervise children.

"Teachers have a lot on their plate," Lutes said. "The teachers' job is to teach and they're experts at teaching and how to do that and how to approach kids. We’re not experts in overdoses or we’re not experts (in) substance abuse so again we need some extra resources in our schools to help with that."

For more Nova Scotia news visit our dedicated provincial page.