02 December 2023 , 11:33
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Locals have complained of feeling sick and a 10-year-old boy was rushed to hospital after eating Christmas Market chocolates spiked with traces of magic mushrooms and cannabis, police said.
Nottinghamshire Police says it has arrested a 63-year-old woman in connection with the alleged spiking and has since been released on bail. It comes as the force received reports of festival-goers feeling unwell after chowing down on chocolate sold in gold wrappers and Cali-Gold boxes at a market stall in Mansfield last week.
Cops said a small batch of the sweet goods sold at the market contained traces of Psilocin, which is often found in magic mushrooms, and THC, commonly found in cannabis. They said there is no evidence to suggest it was more widely distributed.
Police said locals fell sick after eating chocolate sold in Cali-Gold wrappers (Food.gov)Chief Inspector Chris Sutcliffe said: “Forensic testing has been carried out of the chocolate recovered by police, with the majority showing no traces of drugs or anything out of the ordinary. Quantities of the hallucinogenic drug Psilocin and THC – a substance found in cannabis – were discovered in a small number of the bars, however.
“The small number of people who became unwell after eating the chocolate have all now fully recovered.It is really important that anyone who still has any of this chocolate hands it into the police immediately so that it can be further analysed."
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Meanwhile, the dad of a girl who was hospitalised twice after eating a chocolate from the market and left scream in pain has spoken out for the first time to the Mirror.
Kylyn Tomlinson bought five bars of the Cali Gold last Saturday, giving some to his daughter. But within minutes of eating it, they were feeling unwell experiencing hallucinations and twitchiness.
Kylyn Tomlinson bought five bars of the Cali Gold chocolate bars from Mansfield's market (Kylyn Tomlinson)“I took her out for the day and every time we go past the market I say, 'you can have a bag of sweets' and on that day she chose these chocolate bars,” Kylyn, 30, said. “They were just in gold wrappers in a Tupperware box with a cardboard sign saying, 'mystery chocolate bars'.
By sheer coincidence, Kylyn's brother-in-law had also purchased some of the chocolate bars from the market stall, which were on a deal at five for £1 at the time. The chocolate was also eaten by Kylyn's nephews, who also ended up experiencing symptoms of a high.
“We went really lightheaded," he said. “I was trying to push through my own symptoms and I was hallucinating in my bedroom and it took hours before we even got any kind of lowering down from it. Then my sister messaged me saying the other kids had had the same chocolate they're having symptoms as well.”
Kylyn's daughter and nephew, who the family has asked not to be named, both went to hospital after experiencing symptoms including twitching and dilated pupils. Hospital staff told Kylyn's sister the effects were similar to those experienced by people taking opioids such as heroin, however others have likened the symptoms to those of psychedelic drugs.
“On Sunday, my daughter just deteriorated more and started puking,” he added. “She was crying in pain. She was crying in pain with her stomach so I got the ambulance out and they said she needed to go to the hospital.” She needed two hospital visits in two days before being discharged on Tuesday afternoon as medics said there weren't any more tests they could run and her mum needed to return for her other children.
Kylyn's daughter was hospitalised twice after eating chocolate from the market (Kylyn Tomlinson)Despite the ongoing probe, Kylyn has been adamant not to play a blame game. He believes whatever was in the chocolate was likely a synthetic substance which means it may be harder to detect in testing.
“I researched online and the symptoms sound very similar to something called 'Venice Chocolate'," Kylyn added. “Everybody who has taken it described the exact same symptoms. They're saying it's supposed to be a mushroom which contains psilocybin (a naturally-occurring psychedelic compound found in some fungi).”
Kylyn said he as extremely worried about what effects the substance in the chocolate could have on his daughter as she is still young with her brain not fully developed. “What I don't want is people to start carrying out witch hunts or for businesses getting blamed until police have done their investigation," he added.
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