Stoughton High Clears Hallways After Students Eat THC Gummies
10/09/2026
Stoughton High School spent Tuesday clearing hallways so emergency crews could reach students after reports that some of them had eaten marijuana gummies.
Principal Ryan Augusta told families the school called three separate shelter-in-place periods on Oct. 6. Not every medical call that day was tied to cannabis. Some were ordinary school emergencies that can turn up on any campus. Others came after reports and concerns that students had consumed THC edibles, the kind commonly sold as gummies. At least one student was transported to a hospital after taking a THC edible. The district has not said how many students were involved, how the products got onto campus, or what condition that student was in.
A shelter-in-place here is not a lockdown. Students stayed in class so Stoughton police and firefighters could move through the building, and so students receiving care could keep some privacy.
The letter home spent most of its space on how edibles actually work, especially for teenagers. Augusta told parents that gummies are not a milder form of cannabis. The high often arrives late, sometimes an hour or more after the first piece, which is how a student ends up taking a second or third before the first one hits. The result can be a dose far larger than intended. Reactions the school flagged include severe anxiety and panic, repeated vomiting, a racing heart, confusion, and loss of consciousness. Any of those can require emergency care.
Augusta also warned that products passed between students are often stronger than the label claims, and that some contain substances other than THC. Recreational cannabis is legal in Massachusetts only for people 21 and older. Possession and use by anyone younger is illegal and against the Stoughton High code of conduct. The principal still told students that health comes first. If a friend looks unwell, tell an adult right away and do not wait to see whether it passes. Families were pointed to 911 and to the Poison Control Center.
The problem is not new in Massachusetts schools. In 2023, several students at the Henderson K-12 Inclusion School in Boston were taken to the hospital after consuming edibles. Stoughton officials said they were raising the issue because THC gummies are already present in the community, and because a delayed high is easy to misread until someone needs an ambulance.
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Principal Ryan Augusta told families the school called three separate shelter-in-place periods on Oct. 6. Not every medical call that day was tied to cannabis. Some were ordinary school emergencies that can turn up on any campus. Others came after reports and concerns that students had consumed THC edibles, the kind commonly sold as gummies. At least one student was transported to a hospital after taking a THC edible. The district has not said how many students were involved, how the products got onto campus, or what condition that student was in.
A shelter-in-place here is not a lockdown. Students stayed in class so Stoughton police and firefighters could move through the building, and so students receiving care could keep some privacy.
The letter home spent most of its space on how edibles actually work, especially for teenagers. Augusta told parents that gummies are not a milder form of cannabis. The high often arrives late, sometimes an hour or more after the first piece, which is how a student ends up taking a second or third before the first one hits. The result can be a dose far larger than intended. Reactions the school flagged include severe anxiety and panic, repeated vomiting, a racing heart, confusion, and loss of consciousness. Any of those can require emergency care.
Augusta also warned that products passed between students are often stronger than the label claims, and that some contain substances other than THC. Recreational cannabis is legal in Massachusetts only for people 21 and older. Possession and use by anyone younger is illegal and against the Stoughton High code of conduct. The principal still told students that health comes first. If a friend looks unwell, tell an adult right away and do not wait to see whether it passes. Families were pointed to 911 and to the Poison Control Center.
The problem is not new in Massachusetts schools. In 2023, several students at the Henderson K-12 Inclusion School in Boston were taken to the hospital after consuming edibles. Stoughton officials said they were raising the issue because THC gummies are already present in the community, and because a delayed high is easy to misread until someone needs an ambulance.
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