Police in North Texas took into custody an eighth grade female student for allegedly bringing marijuana-spiked chocolate chip cookies to school. On Tuesday, they charged her with a felony for the possession of a controlled substance.
Denton police spokesman Shane Kizer told reporters that the 13-year-old student at McMath Middle School poured THC oil on the three cookies that she brought to school on Monday. THC, or Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol, is the chemical compound found in marijuana that produces an altered state.
Kizer said that on late Monday morning McMath administrators notified the school resource officer (SRO), an on-campus law enforcement agent, that two students, a boy and a girl, became ill from eating chocolate chip cookies. Reportedly, they asked the girl for a bite of a cookie sometime earlier that day.
School officials checked the purported suspect’s locker, noticing a “funky odor,” added Kizer. The SRO recognized the smell of marijuana. WFAA reported that after speaking to the three students involved, the 13-year-0ld divulged she brought the three chocolate chip cookies into the school knowing that they contained THC.
In an email, Kizer told the Denton Record-Chronicle: “The other two [students] showed signs of excited behavior and had high resting heart rates.” He noted: “They were checked and monitored by the school nurse until they were capable of returning to class.”
The purported suspect was allowed to go home with her father that day but “was then brought back and detained for manufacture and delivery of a control substance,” said Kizer. Then, on Tuesday, Denton police detained the 13-year-old girl and formally charged her with the manufacture or delivery of a substance in penalty group 2 under 400 grams.
The Denton Independent School District’s Student Code of Conduct states that possession, use, giving, or selling an illegal drug, including marijuana seeds or pieces in less than a usable amount, on or within 300 feet of school property will result in a mandatory disciplinary alternative education plan (DAEP) placement and can even trigger an expulsion.
Like all Texas school districts, the Denton ISD Student Code of Conduct establishes often rigid zero tolerance policies that are based on Chapter 37 of the Texas Education Code and the 1995 Texas Safe Schools Act, resulting in harsh consequences for designated misbehaviors.
Only a student with a valid prescription for low-THC cannabis as authorized by Chapter 487 of the Health and Safety Code does not violate school policy where marijuana-related products are concerned. In 2015, the Texas Legislature passed the Compassionate Use Act, which legalized oils containing cannabidiol oil, a non-euphoric low-THC marijuana extract. It has shown great promise in managing intractable epilepsy, a form of the brain disorder that affects one-third of people who suffer with seizures. As Breitbart Texas reported, Governor Greg Abbott signed this bill into law but made it clear the state would not legalize conventional marijuana for recreational or medicinal use during his tenure.
This year, state lawmakers sought to expand the Compassionate Use Act with a bi-partisan bill that would have legalized medical marijuana but the legislation never made it out of the Texas House.
It remains unknown how the 13-year-old girl got the THC for the cookies.
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