ESKASONI, N.S. — The mother of a boy who was taken to hospital after eating THC-laced molasses cake during a school celebration says parents should have been notified much earlier.
Rayma Marshall’s son Blair Francis was one of several students and adults who unknowingly ate the cannabis-infused cake during the Eskasoni Immersion School’s mid-winter feast Friday. However, Marshall said she never learned of the incident until Saturday afternoon when parents began posting on social media.
“To be honest, I’m hurt. I’m really hurt. It was a lack of communication from the school,” said Marshall, who spent a sleepless Saturday night after her son, who turned 10 years old on Jan. 31, had what doctors described as a “high amount of THC” in his system.
“I was up all Saturday night. I was fighting with guilt. I was supposed to protect him from any of this. I trusted the school. I had my trust in them to keep an eye on my kid. I never expected any of this,” said the 30-year-old Eskasoni resident.
“I was hurt. I was angry. I was mad. My emotions were crazy. I stayed up the whole night looking at my son laying there while he was sleeping. I was crying my head off.”
Never in a million years have I thought that I would have to do a drug test on a 10-year-old — especially my own son.
RCMP spokeswoman Cpl. Jennifer Clarke said officers in Eskasoni are continuing to investigate the case. She confirmed the cake was provided by a catering company but said it’s too early to say whether any charges will be laid.
“I guess that’s something we’ll have to look into once we determine how many people got sick and exactly how it happened,” she said.
The Cape Breton Post reached out to the Eskasoni School Board for comment Monday but did not receive a response. Attempts to speak to Eskasoni Chief Leroy Denny, who was expected to meet with police and the school board Monday, were also unsuccessful.
The board posted a message on its Facebook page Saturday stating “edible marijuana may have inadvertently been placed in a dessert cake” served at the school and advising people to seek medical attention if necessary. The board also said it would “assist any and all individuals who have been adversely affected by this unfortunate event.”
For Marshall, that warning came too late. She said the public should have been notified after a staff member at the school was taken to hospital for symptoms similar to a heart attack after eating the cake on Friday.
“Personally, I wish they issued a precaution notice about it. Even if it was just a little thing. I’m not blaming anybody. It was a bad mistake that could have been prevented, but unfortunately it had to lead to this.”
Marshall said she thought her son might be coming down with a cold when the normally active 10-year-old was unusually sleepy Friday afternoon.
“He was groggy, tired and he was right mean when I woke him up. Grumpy. It was unusual. I thought he was coming on with something," said Marshall, who took her son to the Cape Breton Regional Hospital the next day after reading about the cannabis cake on Facebook.
“It all clicked in — he might have had this cake too. I questioned him without him knowing what was going on. I asked him ‘What did you eat at school yesterday?’ and he said ‘I had soup and I had cake.’ I was like ‘Oh really? How was it?’ and he said ‘It didn’t taste all that good. I didn’t like it.’”
At the time, Marshall, 30, was at a Sydney hotel celebrating Francis’s birthday. She asked her sister to buy a kit that detects THC in urine at a local drug store and then tested her son. When it came out positive, she immediately took him to the emergency room during the snowstorm where she said another urine sample confirmed the result.
“Never in a million years have I thought that I would have to do a drug test on a 10-year-old — especially my own son. When I found out, I instantly thought of the worst. I could have lost my son and I would not know anything. What if he did OD on THC?’"
While Francis is feeling OK, Marshall said she was reluctant to send him back to school. She ended up letting him go because he was excited because they were playing hockey Monday. However, she still hasn’t told him what happened because she doesn’t want him to think about trying marijuana in the future.
“We don’t lie to him about anything but I’m not ready to tell him about it,” she said.
“I don’t want him in the long run to think, ‘Oh I had this, I want to see how it feels again.’ I’m his mom. I’m supposed to protect him from all this stuff. I don’t want him to think, ‘Oh, I’m going to try this again.’”
