Test results are in on the candy that hospitalized Granbury eighth-graders
Candy tied to the hospitalization of eight Granbury Middle School students last week was not laced with any illicit substance, according to the city.
“It is not known what caused the reported issues with the students but the testing indicates that it was not caused by any kind of drug,” the city said in Facebook post on Dec 19.
The post added that both blood tests for the hospitalized students and testing from a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration lab in Dallas came back with negative results for any type of drugs.
“I’m not going to even assume to know what could have caused the illness or not, but all we can say, with certainty, is there are no controlled substances that were located in what we tested,” said Eduardo Chavez, special agent in charge of the Dallas DEA division.
Chavez complimented the way Granbury Middle School and local law enforcement handled the situation.
“I applaud the vigilance and thinking and being able to call the right authorities to be able to get definitive answers,” Chavez said. “I’m just thankful that everybody worked in their lanes of expertise to be able to get some answers. Hopefully all of these students are on the mend.”
The students were hospitalized Dec. 12 after eating candy that the children, their parents and school officials suspected was laced with illicit substances. Two of them were taken to the ER.
Initial tests came back negative for THC last week.
The mother of one of the students taken to the ER told Star-Telegram media partner WFAA-TV “’the doctor was very sure it was fentanyl.’”
Chavez added he wasn’t surprised the candy came back negative for drugs but he believes it was important the possibility of controlled substances was considered.
“I’m glad at least part of the conversation is ‘Could this have been some type of illegal drug?’ whether that’s having these candies infused with THC, or even worse with fentanyl,” Chavez said. “I’m glad it doesn’t just default to all Americans thinking it’s just food poisoning or something like that. Because that tells me at least there is a good awareness within the community and within school administration departments to at least think in those terms.”
This story was originally published December 20, 2023 at 10:45 AM.
