Two kids hospitalized after Utah Food Bank gave out high-dosage THC candy

ROY, Utah (KUTV) — Two young children are in the hospital after accidentally eating THC laced candy handed out by a Roy, Utah church who got it from the Utah Food Bank.

Roy police say at least five children ate the candy, but only two were taken to the hospital.

Roy police say one of the girls is 11-years-old and had to be taken to the hospital.

The father of a 5-year-old, who asked they not be named, said she is in the ICU at Children’s Primary Hospital.

The father said his daughter was at her grandmother's house, who picked up the food donation earlier on Friday, and ate what she thought was candy.

The candy is a cannabis medicine with THC in it.

Roy police say it’s called Nerd Ropes and packages for sale online show it has 400 milligrams of THC, which is about 40 times a normal dosage for an adult who uses marijuana regularly.

Ginette Bott, the president of the Utah Food Bank says:

I think it goes without saying that everyone involved in this is mortified.

They provided the food to the Roy Baptist Church, which handed out food bags to those in need on Friday. Somehow the Nerd Ropes ended up in 63 bags.

Bott says:

Kids are our top priority we do everything to help, we certainly would never do anything to hurt.

The food bank gets donations from all over.

Bott says they are working to track down how this happened.

"We’re using the information we have in our inventory system and reached out to carriers and will do everything possible to try to track down that specific location where it came from," Bott said.

And if that happens, Bott says the food bank will press charges.

“Any time any kind of a product like this comes into a food chain or food supply, this is a criminal offense. This is something not to be taken lightly.”

John Thomas, the head minister of Roy Baptist Church, says, “I’m heartbroken this happened when we were trying to offer help.” Because of coronavirus, Thomas says Friday’s food give-out was the first at the church in a few weeks.

The food bank is going through its internal practices now to see how this can be prevented from happening in the future.

Here is Utah Food Bank’s full statement:

It was brought to the attention of Utah Food Bank today that a recent food donation contained Medicated Nerds Rope Candy that is infused with THC, which was passed through to a partner agency in Roy for distribution to clients. Clients who have recently visited the First Baptist Church of Roy and received Nerds Ropes candies are advised to check the label for the word “Medicated” above the Nerds logo, and other package markings consistent with THC content.

If you received any of these products, contact the Roy Police Department at 801-629-8221 immediately and they will send an officer to pick up the products, no questions asked. These packages look exactly like regular Nerds Ropes, so it is almost impossible to detect the difference unless you look for it specifically. So far, all other Utah Food Bank partner agencies have been contacted, but none received the products.

According to Ginette Bott, Utah Food Bank President & CEO, “We are absolutely horrified that this product went out to any of our partner agencies, and can easily see how volunteers would not have known what to look for. We apologize to any families who may have received this product and are changing our processes involving such donations immediately to avoid this happening again.”

The Roy City Police Department is actively reaching out to those individual families who have been identified as receiving a donation today.