Feds Warn Of Marijuana-Filled Gumballs

ELLICOTT CITY, Md. -- Authorities aren't happy about yellow, smiley face gumballs.

The federal Drug Enforcement Agency is warning about so-called "Greenades," which are marijuana-containing gumballs.

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The DEA is issuing an intelligence bulletin about the pot candies to police departments across the country. The smiley face gumballs were first discovered at a Howard County, Md., high school in January.

Police charged three 17-year-old students after a teacher alerted a school resource officer. She told the officer that she saw a student give a plastic bag that the teacher believed contained drugs to another student.

The officer seized the bag, which contained two "candy balls," police said. The gumballs came wrapped in colorful tin foil labeled as "Greenades" with a marijuana leaf on the wrapper and detailed instructions for use. Instructions on the foil told users to chew for 30 minutes to 1 hour "before you would like receive your high" and to "chew for as long as possible, then swallow."

Officers charged two students with distribution of drugs on school property and a third with possession of marijuana.

The federal Drug Enforcement Agency recently released an intelligence bulletin about the "greenades."

Each gumball contained approximately one gram of marijuana, and the total net mass of the two gumballs was 17.5 grams.

If a toddler were to ingest the amount of THC, the active chemical in marijuana, in one gram of high grade marijuana it could produce harmful effects, according to PRWeb.

"The way drugs are being marketed and packaged these days to encourage kids to buy and use them is getting pretty sophisticated. The purpose, of course, is to create future clientele for drugs and what better-targeted market for a pusher than kids. They are young, experimental by nature and have the money to buy it. If they try it and like it, they could end up being a permanent customer that one day ends up in our rehabilitation facility, in jail or dead," J.T. Daily, Director of Drug Education for Narconon Arrowhead, one of the country’s leading drug rehabilitation and education centers, told PRWeb.