Nearly three weeks after several students and a teacher fell ill after eating cannabis-laced cookies at a Dunsmuir school, the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office is still seeking child endangerment charges in the matter.
Sheriff’s officials are recommending the Siskiyou County District Attorney’s Office file two misdemeanor counts of willful child endangerment against a person they say provided the cookies to a Dunsmuir Elementary School class.
No arrests were made as of June 22. And as of yet, there isn’t evidence anyone intentionally made the children sick, sheriff’s office spokesperson Sage Milestone said.
School officials reported to law enforcement that the teacher and some of their students went to the hospital and tested positive for tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis that affects cognitive abilities.
School administrators told the sheriff’s office the teacher set the cookies out in a common area of the classroom the morning of June 1. The sick students and teacher went to the hospital later that day, the sheriff’s office said.
No one was hospitalized overnight, and everyone who ate the cookies fully recovered, said Dunsmuir Elementary School District Superintendent Paige Rowe in a June 22 email to the Record Searchlight.
Note to readers: If you appreciate the work we do here at the Redding Record Searchlight, please consider subscribing yourself or giving the gift of a subscription to someone you know.
The name of the person who brought the cookies to the school is being withheld, as are some details about the case, which remains under investigation, Milestone said.
Rowe also declined to say who the person was who brought the cookies or whether they were a school employee, adding, “Due to privacy laws and personnel confidentiality, I am unable to comment on specific personnel matters or disciplinary actions.
“The health and safety of our students and staff remain our highest priority,” Rowe said. The district continues to work with law enforcement, and has “taken appropriate steps to address the incident and support those affected.”
Record Searchlight Editor Jenny Espino contributed to this report.
Jessica Skropanic is a features reporter for the Record Searchlight/USA Today Network. She covers science, arts, social issues and news stories. Follow her on Twitter @RS_JSkropanic and on Facebook. Join Jessica on Record Searchlight Facebook groups Get Out! Nor Cal, Today in Shasta County and Shaping Redding’s Future. To support and sustain this work, please subscribe today. Thank you.
This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Charges still being sought in THC cookies case in Dunsmuir
Reporting by Jessica Skropanic, Redding Record Searchlight / Redding Record Searchlight
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jessica Skropanic, Redding Record Searchlight | USA TODAY Network
