A music festival at the Ohio Dreams venue turned into a nightmare Saturday when 24 people suffered bad reactions to candy laced with THC, police said.
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According to the police report of the incident, “A green protective case was found and it contained a glass device for the use of smoking marijuana and or hash oil” in his backpack. The story goes that someone, between 10 and 11 a.m. began distributing packets of colorful candy, labeled as “Prescribed Medibles” and “Nerd Bites”, referencing commercial brands. Only one or two lollies would get a user high, but some people were eating whole packets, officials said.
Matthew Lee Gross, 28, of Ypsilanti, Michigan was arrested and charged with trafficking in drugs.
Starting around 4pm, ambulances loaded with overdose victims were arriving at OhioHealth in nearby Mansfield, said hospital spokeswoman Nikki Workman. Narcan, which is commonly used to reverse the effects of opiates, was used on those patients to treat overdoses.
This was the highest concentration of THC the crime lab director of the Mansfield Police Department, Tony Tambasco, had seen in his lab, said Richland County Sheriff’s Maj. He said THC usually gives people a sense of euphoria. “They just felt different”.
“Local officials described the suspect as a white man, standing about 5’6” and wearing a red hat with a gray bill and a black shirt with a marijuana leaf on the front.
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The two-day festival, headlined by A$AP Ferg and Machine Gun Kelly, continued as planned Sunday.
