At least seven teenagers used marijuana at Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill Friday morning, and another was arrested for supplying the pot to them, police said.
A 17-year-old male student of Live Oak High School was arrested following an investigation prompted by a 911 call for medical aid from school staff, who noticed that five students appeared to be under the influence of a controlled substance, according to Morgan Hill Police Sgt. Troy Hoefling.
The suspect, a Morgan Hill resident, allegedly made and sold peanut-butter flavored, marijuana-laced cookies for $5 each to the students. He was arrested on suspicion of possession of marijuana for sales, child endangerment, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and possession of marijuana on school grounds, Hoefling said.
Only one of the charges – possession for sale – is a felony. The student, whose name cannot be disclosed by police because he is a juvenile, was booked into Santa Clara County Juvenile Hall.
Police received the 911 call from a Live Oak staff person about 11:40 a.m. Friday. Staff at the school noticed at least one of the students appeared to be intoxicated. After interviewing the student, administrators learned the student had eaten the cookies, which were provided by another student.
Hoefling added the students’ symptoms included crying, hysterical behavior and feeling distraught and “out of it” after eating the cookies.
Sophomore Peter James, 15, said one of the students was a fellow sophomore in his 10:30 a.m. third period Algebra 2 class.
“I heard she passed out because she had three cookies,” he said. “She doesn’t seem like the person who would have done that. I know her pretty well because of class. I think if she would have known (they had marijuana), she would have only had one.”
Another Live Oak student, Manuel Rocha, 14, said he heard “two girls passed out in the bathroom.”
Police also said two more students who did not exhibit negative symptoms came forward to police after the incident, bringing the total number of alleged pot-cookie eaters to seven. They are all female. Six of them are 15 and one 16, Hoefling said.
The teens who were treated by paramedics at the school were released to their parents, and police are unlikely to pursue arrests or charges against them, Hoefling said.
But the students might face disciplinary action at the school, according to MHUSD staff.
The district’s policy says students who bring drugs to school are automatically and immediately suspended up to five days, and are subject to expulsion or a prolonged suspension after further investigation by school staff and action by the school district board.
All students that ingested the cookies agreed to a blood test administrated by MHPD to determine what type of drug was in their system and if anything else of harm could have been in the cookies.
Furthermore, police have a sample of the cookies the suspect was selling, and will send that to a lab to determine its exact ingredients, Hoefling said. Detectives at MHPD were able to determine that the sample contained marijuana.
“We don’t know if there was anything else” that is illegal or harmful, Hoefling said.
It’s not the first time that a student has used, sold or possessed marijuana at Live Oak, he added. Police respond “at least weekly” for drug violations at the two Morgan Hill Unified high schools, with marijuana the most prevalent of the substances involved.
Parent Marjorie Mccone, who was waiting Friday afternoon for her son who is a junior at the school, said she did not hear about the incident.
“It’s always a concern,” she said. “You just hope your kids never do it.”
“My son told me about it. He laughed about it, like ‘guess what mom?’ ” said Amy, a parent of a 16-year-old sophomore who declined to give her last name. She also said her son has been offered drugs in the past. “I think it’s going to happen,” she said. “It’s high school.”
