More than a dozen children were turned into virtual “zombies” after apparently sharing a chocolate bar containing psychedelic mushrooms while at a summer day camp in New Jersey.
The disturbing incident unfolded at the YMCA in East Orange after a counselor saw a kid passing out what appeared to be candy to fellow campers Thursday morning, CBS News reported.
One child complained about not feeling well a short time later, followed by 12 others, according to reports.
Local mom Cynthia Cunningham said she got a call from the camp saying her 12-year-old daughter was among those who were sickened.
“When I arrived to the YMCA, it was about 13 children. They, for lack of better words, they looked like zombies,” Cunningham told CBS News.
Cunningham said her daughter told her she thought she was eating an ordinary piece of chocolate but “the taste was off and she spit it out.”
Cunningham said the girl’s eyes were “low and droopy” and she was “keeling over” as Cunningham drove her to a hospital to be checked out.
Police and emergency medical personnel responded to the scene shortly after 11 a.m. Thursday and determined the children were all in stable condition, with one transported to a hospital due to a pre-existing condition, TV station WABC reported.
A suspect was reportedly identified, but no charges were filed, with East Orange Police Chief Phyllis Bindi saying that detectives were investigating to determine whether any crimes were committed.
In a statement, the YMCA said that it prohibits campers from sharing food and that when staffers saw children “having an adverse reaction to the substance, we immediately enacted our emergency protocols, contacting emergency services, parents and the police.”
On Saturday, an East Orange police dispatcher told The Independent that no one was available to provide an update on the investigation, and a YMCA representative didn’t immediately return an inquiry.
In January, outgoing New Jersey governor Phil Murphy signed a law that authorized $6 million for a pilot program involving the use of psilocybin —the hallucinogenic chemical in so-called magic mushrooms — to treat people with conditions including PTSD and drug-resistant depression, News 12 New Jersey reported at the time.
Recreational use of psilocybin remains illegal in the U.S., with federal law classifying it as a Schedule I drug that has no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.
