Boy, 6, in 'excruciating pain' in hospital after unaware family sold THC sweets
A six-year-old boy has been left in "excruciating pain" after wolfing down a THC-laced candy his family mistakenly thought were Skittles.
North Carolina mum Catherine Buttereit's planned day of duckpin bowling was thrown into chaos when her young son consumed 13 times the adult dosage while at a restaurant in Charlotte's South End neighbourhood. The family were out for lunch at the Common Market - which is described as an "uncommon convenience store, deli and bar" - last Friday when the incident occurred.
Catherine's son's attention was caught when he noticed what he thought were some freeze-dried crunchy Skittles on the counter, and he was keen to try them. It was the first time they had seen this version of the sweets, which they boy had been desperate to try since learning about freeze-dried sweets on YouTube.
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She explained: “I said, 'Of course yeah, that looks cool. Let’s try it.’ And he handed me the bag and I handed it to the cashier, she punched it in and we finished up the transaction. I was never asked for an ID. I was never informed of what I was purchasing.”
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The family mistakenly thought the sweets were a new type of Skittle (WSOC TV 9)Catherine and her fiancé, who was also at the table, had around two pieces while her son is thought to have had about 40 pieces. Despite all three trying some, they didn't notice anything strange.
But soon after, when the family went to play duckpin bowling, the effects started to kick in. The young boy said his pelvis was burning, he had a freezing chest and his stomach and head were hurting, the NY Post reports.
The traumatised mum added: “But he didn’t exhibit symptoms of my child that was actually in pain. He kind of had like a smirk on his face."
Catherine thought he son may have just needed a restroom break but promptly rang the emergency services after her boy said the water he had tasted was "disgusting" - something the mum remembers being told was a symptom of poisoning.
Her fiancé decided to look at the ingredients on the bag of sweets and was shocked to find it was laced with a psychoactive component of the cannabis sativa plant known as Delta-9. It is considered a therapeutic drug but doctors weren't sure whether there would be any long-term effects for a young and small child.
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It happened at Common Market just before the family were about to play duckpin bowling (WSOC TV 9)That's when things became serious for the concerned mum, who said: “He said it’s marijuana pot and three pieces was an adult side serving. So by that point, he had consumed about a third of the package, which is about 30 to 40 pieces they estimated in the hospital. So he essentially had like 13 times the dose for an adult and he’s like a 40-pound six-year-old.”
When the youngster was transported to hospital he slept in a deep sleep for 17 hours before he was able to be taken home and later slept some more. His mother recalls him waking up and her son immediately saying: "At least it doesn't hurt anymore."
While marijuana is illegal in North Carolina, Delta-9 THC products with a maximum of 0.3% content can be sold at hemp shops, convenience stores and online stores throughout the state. Some packages do have a suggested 21+ stamp on them, as Catherine says the 'skittles' did but in extremely small lettering.
The six-year-old gad 13 times the adult dosage (WSOC TV 9)The Common Market location where the candy was purchased has since allegedly admitted to Catherine they have a strict policy for IDing customers as they would for alcohol drinkers and that the candy is typically kept in a Plexiglas case behind the counter, not within reach of a customer. The store confirmed to local outlet WSOCTV that the item should have been locked up and that staff is trained to educate customers when buying this type of product.
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Catherine commented: "I’m really just trying to bring awareness to other parents and caretakers that this extremely new drug product is available now in family-type settings where children are going to be, not only in exclusive vape-type shops anymore. " She added she wants business owners to "do their due diligence in training and educating their employees and being very proactive on making sure that these products are not in the hands of children."
“I completely accept my negligence as a parent," she said. "I made the mistake of not reading the package and I’m dealing with those consequences. But it was 50-50 negligence. That product was not in its proper storage place.”
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