Candy laced with THC was distributed by mistake during a food bank event at a Roy church on Friday. Photo: Roy City Police/Facebook
ROY, Utah — Police in Roy want to know how candy laced with THC, the “high-producing” ingredient in marijuana, wound up at a local church’s food bank.
Two children went to the hospital Friday night after ingesting the THC-laced candy from a food bank at Roy Baptist Church. The children, ages 5 and 11, sought treatment at Primary Children’s Medical Center and Ogden Regional Hospital. At last check, one of the two children was said to be doing better but the other remained in intensive care.
Utah Food Bank President and CEO Ginette Bott apologized to any families who may have received the product, promising to work to see that this would not happen again.
“Right now across our country, the food banks are in the throes of a time we have never seen,” said Bott. “We are working so fast, so diligently; the need has doubled in some areas — tripled in others. This is unexpected, and we will be more vigilant. Community donations are so needed because of COVID-19 relief — the donations enter our facility, and hit the pallet for delivery immediately.”
They did not yet know where the THC candy came from or how it got into the food bank’s distribution chain.
According to Roy police, the food bank is cooperating completely with the investigation.
Police described the THC candy handed out by the food bank, “Medicated Nerds,” as rope candy. Roy officers contacted over 70 families who may have received bags including that candy. Police believe each bag of food handed out at the church contained three or four of those “Medicated Nerds” ropes.
According to the packaging, each candy rope contains 400 mg of THC, meant to be taken a little at a time. Officials said a typical daily “prescription” dose of THC for adults would be between 15 and 45 mg. Recreational THC candies typically contain five or ten mg.
“I am grieved that something that was meant for good, turned out to be so harmful,” John Thomas, interim pastor of the Roy Baptist Church, said.
Anyone who received a bag of food from Roy Baptist Church on Friday should contact the Roy Police Department at 801-629-8221. Police say an officer will respond to collect the THC candy distributed by food bank volunteers with no questions asked.