BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — Concerns and anger from some Birmingham parents after multiple incidents of students consuming tainted or laced food, and in at least one case it happened at school. Some parents say they’re angry and upset kids are eating drug-laced foods, not knowing what’s in them, and ending up hospitalized.
“It’s an epidemic, something is wrong,” says Jasmaine Deloach, whose son has been in and out of the hospital since January 31.
Deloach says her special education son was given marijuana-laced gummies by another student at Rudd Middle School.
“If I send my child to school with you, I ask that you send my child back the same way I sent them or even better,” says Deloach.
Deloach says she still has unanswered questions about what happened to her son and why paramedics weren’t immediately called. She says when she got to the school, her son was unconscious, but in a statement from Jefferson County Schools Superintendent Dr. Walter Gonsoulin, he says the student was responsive while in their care.
Superintendent Gonsoulin’s statement reads:
“The health and well-being of all students are top priorities for JEFCOED. When it is deemed medically necessary, we will seek outside emergency care. In the situation in question, the student was assessed by a registered nurse and found, in their professional opinion, to be stable. The student was responsive while he was in our care. Per our procedures, the parent was immediately notified. If a parent chooses to seek outside additional care, it is certainly their right to do so, and we respect those decisions.”
Shelby County mom Amber Lane says her son was hospitalized after being given coffee cake laced with synthetic drugs by another student from his high school while at a birthday party. She worries it will take a student dying for the problem to be taken seriously.
“Somebody’s got to be held accountable at this point because it’s becoming a regular thing. It’s too many kids that’s been getting sent to the hospital off edibles,” says Lane. “It’s not acceptable. We’re killing our kids off.”
CBS 42 reached out to the Birmingham Police Department and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office for comment on edibles being found and eaten at schools.
Birmingham Police declined to comment, referring us to Birmingham City Schools. Birmingham City Schools referred us to Birmingham Police and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and did not answer our second request for comment.
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office also declined to comment.
