Officials: 3 Los Banos students sickened by drug-laced snacks

Three Los Banos high school students landed in the emergency room this week after eating drug-laced snacks, officials from the Los Banos Unified School District said Tuesday.

School officials are urging parents to speak with their children about the risks of accepting food from strangers and eating things without understanding the effects.

In the past week, at least three separate incidents between Los Banos High School and Pacheco High School have ended with students going to the hospital as a precaution, Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Education Paul Enos told the Enterprise on Tuesday.

“I’m aware of three in the last week,” Enos said. “For whatever reason, why we’re having an increase in that, I don’t know.”

Earlier in the week, one student fell ill after eating a cracker with “some kind of white powder.”

It was unclear exactly what was in the powder.

In another incident, a student became sick after eating a brownie laced with marijuana, officials said.

On Tuesday morning, another student ate a brownie laced with marijuana on the way to school. That brownie was packaged and labeled, suggesting the brownie was legally purchased under a medical marijuana card, officials said.

Enos said it hasn’t been determined as of Tuesday afternoon if the students ingested the food intentionally. He declined to say whether any student faces discipline as a result.

Los Banos police have taken reports on each incident, school officials said.

School officials are urging parents to talk with children about accepting food items from others and about drugs.

“We deal with marijuana issues on a fairly regular basis,” Enos said. “It’s more common now than five years ago.”

Enos said any student involved in a drug-related incident will be referred to counseling.

This story was originally published May 24, 2016 at 3:46 PM with the headline "Officials: 3 Los Banos students sickened by drug-laced snacks."