Urgent warning as schoolkids rushed to hospital after eating cannabis-laced gummy sweets
SEVERAL schoolchildren have been hospitalised after eating gummy bear sweets laced with drugs.
Police have issued an urgent warning after packets of the "cannabis infused gummies" were seized at a secondary school in south London.
"A number of pupils" became "very ill" and some were rushed to hospital after eating them.
The sweets look like normal gummy bears but are infused with cannabis and cause a similar effect to smoking it.
Cops shared photos of the Runtz berry flavoured candy, which claim to contain 500mg of high-inducing THC.
While no one has ever died as a direct result of cannabis, users or those who have never taken the drug can misjudge doses, especially when eating it.
'DETRIMENTAL EFFECT'
They can also suffer side effects like vomiting and panic attacks.
Metropolitan Police warned schools in Sutton, south London: "There has been an increase in young people buying what at first appear to be regular jelly sweets, gummy bears or similar sweets.
"These sweets are not what they appear to be. They are in fact mixed with cannabis and have a detrimental effect on those eating them.
"Sadly, a number of school pupils in Sutton have been either made very ill or hospitalised as a result of eating them."
One school in the area, Greenshaw High School, shared the police notice on its Twitter account.
Parents and pupils who come across the sweets are being urged to call 101 or 999.
It follows a Sun Online probe last month which revealed drug dealers are flooding the country with cannabis-laced sweets disguised as Kinder Eggs, Mars Bars and Haribo jellies.
Exchanges are freely taking place on Instagram and Snapchat, with dealers flogging what they claim are "treats".
The items - which are also being branded to look like Starburst and Jelly Babies - can contain dangerous levels of concentrated THC.
One social media account we found had more than 100,000 members - thousands of them UK-based.
The same network hosted chatrooms for 48 cannabis dealers running groups aimed at UK buyers that operate an innovative robotic ordering system.
It follows an incident in north London last year when 13 teenage girls were rushed to hospital after consuming “cannabis-laced” sweets while at school.
Most read in News
Innocent-looking ‘Medicated Nerds Rope Bites’ which were “50 times stronger than a joint” contained dangerous levels of psychoactive chemical THC.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
Last month a drugs probe was launched at a prestigious girls school popular with Premier League parents after a pupil took in brownies suspected of containing cannabis.
Three girls fell ill after the student handed out the traybake to friends at £13,000-a-year Alderley Edge School for Girls.