Rhode Island

4 kids taken to RI hospital after eating CBD gummies at YMCA summer camp

The incident occurred at Camp Westwood YMCA on Thursday, fire officials said

A sign for Camp Westwood YMCA in Coventry, Rhode Island
WJAR

Four children were taken to the hospital after they ate CBD gummies at a YMCA summer camp in Coventry, Rhode Island, last week.

First responders were called to Camp Westwood YMCA on Thursday morning for four campers who were vomiting, NBC10 Boston affiliate WJAR reports. The children, ages 12 to 15 years old, were taken to Hasbro Children's Hospital.

"It's concerning from the standpoint that obviously there's something going on because they're vomiting," Robert Mann, the captain of Western Coventry Fire District, told WJAR. "The good part of it is they were conscious, and they can maintain their own airway so that they could vomit."

The YMCA tells WJAR that one kid brought them in and handed them out in a bathroom that was away from counselor supervision.

"Since counselors do not accompany campers into bathroom stalls, our counselor learned of this event when campers came out of the bathroom and announced that they believed they had consumer gummies that included CBD," Jeff Merhige, CEO of YMCA of Pawtucket, said in a statement. "The camp immediately called Town emergency services out of an abundance of caution, and the campers affected were taken for medical observation. We are continuing to monitor this situation, and commend our staff for being proactive in this incident."

There's no word on how many gummies the children consumed, or if they were aware they contained CBD.

Fire officials tell WJAR that they are responding to more and more calls for kids eating CBD gummies.

"There's a lot of medical issues that we have to be concerned about, not to mention the fact we don't know exactly what they took or how much," Mann said. "Teach your kids not to take drugs, medications from anybody other than a doctor or a family member, a trusted family member."

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