Twenty four people reportedly overdosed and were hospitalized after consuming a THC-laced candy at the EST (Everyone Stands Together) Festival in Butler, Ohio, a town about 90 miles southwest of Cleveland.
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Authorities say they were tipped to Gross by other concertgoers who were attending the Last Weekend on Earth show at Ohio Dreams.
“What likely happened is whoever passed these out did not give the people any instructions”, Masi said.
Maj. Joe Masi of the Richland County Sheriff’s Department told the Mansfield News Journal someone began tossing out bags of the colorful sweets Saturday at around 11 a.m. Authorities said nobody lost consciousness.
An eyewitness said: “They were having discomfort, not feeling normal”. According to the New York Daily News, each piece of the “medibles” contained “very, very high dose of THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol)”, the mild-altering chemical in marijuana. “They just felt different”.
A spokesperson for the hospital OhioHealth in Mansfield told NBC News that 23 patients were treated with Narcan, a spray used to treat known or suspected opioid overdoses, Saturday afternoon and were then taken to the hospital for treatment. The arrivals had ended by early evening. CNN noted that the drug is especially unsafe because there are fifteen types of synthetic cannabinoids that are classified as Schedule I controlled substances.
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The two-day festival, headlined by A$AP Ferg and Machine Gun Kelly, continued as planned Sunday. About 3,000 people were at the music festival on Saturday.
