T
The420Guy
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LATHROP, California – When Lathrop police Officer Chris Stevens teaches students about the perils of drug and alcohol abuse, one of his tools is a poster depicting a marijuana leaf.
"I tell them they need to stay far away from it," he said.
So when a second-grade teacher at Lathrop Annex K-2 this week offered students some roasted hemp seeds – pulled from a bag bearing the image of a marijuana leaf – things got a bit tense.
One of her students came down with a stomachache later that Tuesday. When the child told her mother what she had eaten in class that day, the mother jumped on the Internet to research the controversial herb.
"The site had a pot leaf, and the girl told her mother, 'The leaf was on the bag in class, too,' " said Stevens, a community-resources officer with the Lathrop Police Department. "The mom freaked and called us."
Police investigated and found the product is legal and is sold in health food stores. No laws were broken.
"There was no filing of charges, because there was no crime," Stevens said.
Marijuana comes from the leaves and flowers of the hemp plant. While marijuana contains 15 percent to 25 percent tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, which induces euphoria, hemp seeds contains only 10 parts per million of the chemical, not enough to affect someone, according to Stevens.
The teacher, whose name is not being released, was trying to teach her students that some people abuse things that can be used for good. Hemp, she said, is used for making rope and fabric – or for eating, according to police.
But some people use it for bad things, she reportedly told the class.
While the student with the stomachache was feeling better and back in class Wednesday, things were just starting to heat up at the Manteca Unified School District.
District officials weren't notified of the incident until Thursday, two days after the seeds were offered to about 20 students. MUSD officials hit the phones. They called poison-control experts. They checked with their own health specialists. Just what is this stuff? Did the seeds pose any health risks to students?
MUSD officials also called parents of children in the class to explain what had happened. "Eating a few seeds was unlikely to cause side effects," they told parents, according to Donald Halseth, MUSD assistant superintendent of personnel services.
Halseth doesn't know how many students sampled the seeds Tuesday. But 'hes pretty sure roasted hemp seeds won't be a part of next year's Red Ribbon Week at Lathrop Annex K-2.
He wouldn't say whether any district policies were broken by the teacher.
"We're taking appropriate action to make sure this does not happen again," he said. "Whenever something like this stirs up so much controversy, we're certainly talking with the teacher."
For more information, contact:
Steve Hartsoe
Tel: 239-3324
E-mail: shartsoe@recordnet.com
"I tell them they need to stay far away from it," he said.
So when a second-grade teacher at Lathrop Annex K-2 this week offered students some roasted hemp seeds – pulled from a bag bearing the image of a marijuana leaf – things got a bit tense.
One of her students came down with a stomachache later that Tuesday. When the child told her mother what she had eaten in class that day, the mother jumped on the Internet to research the controversial herb.
"The site had a pot leaf, and the girl told her mother, 'The leaf was on the bag in class, too,' " said Stevens, a community-resources officer with the Lathrop Police Department. "The mom freaked and called us."
Police investigated and found the product is legal and is sold in health food stores. No laws were broken.
"There was no filing of charges, because there was no crime," Stevens said.
Marijuana comes from the leaves and flowers of the hemp plant. While marijuana contains 15 percent to 25 percent tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, which induces euphoria, hemp seeds contains only 10 parts per million of the chemical, not enough to affect someone, according to Stevens.
The teacher, whose name is not being released, was trying to teach her students that some people abuse things that can be used for good. Hemp, she said, is used for making rope and fabric – or for eating, according to police.
But some people use it for bad things, she reportedly told the class.
While the student with the stomachache was feeling better and back in class Wednesday, things were just starting to heat up at the Manteca Unified School District.
District officials weren't notified of the incident until Thursday, two days after the seeds were offered to about 20 students. MUSD officials hit the phones. They called poison-control experts. They checked with their own health specialists. Just what is this stuff? Did the seeds pose any health risks to students?
MUSD officials also called parents of children in the class to explain what had happened. "Eating a few seeds was unlikely to cause side effects," they told parents, according to Donald Halseth, MUSD assistant superintendent of personnel services.
Halseth doesn't know how many students sampled the seeds Tuesday. But 'hes pretty sure roasted hemp seeds won't be a part of next year's Red Ribbon Week at Lathrop Annex K-2.
He wouldn't say whether any district policies were broken by the teacher.
"We're taking appropriate action to make sure this does not happen again," he said. "Whenever something like this stirs up so much controversy, we're certainly talking with the teacher."
For more information, contact:
Steve Hartsoe
Tel: 239-3324
E-mail: shartsoe@recordnet.com
