A handful of students from El Camino Junior High School in Santa Maria became ill after smoking spice on Friday morning.
The mother of one of the five students who smoked spice before school, found her son unresponsive at their home with his eyes open. She then transported her son to Marian Regional Medical Center for treatment.
The remaining four students arrived at school at around 8:30 a.m. where the effects of the drug began to kick in. The students were overly thirsty, one was vomiting and they all had high blood pressure and heart rates.
Emergency medical personnel transported two of the students to the hospital while the other two were picked up by their parents.
Spice is a legal synthetic marijuana commonly sold in smoke shops. Spice is reportedly about 1,000 times stronger than traditional marijuana.
The driver who caused a fatal crash on Highway 1 in Cayucos last October was allegedly addicted to spice and used it prior to the collision. The crash killed two children and sent two adults to the hospital with major injuries
Several Central Coast communities have passed ordinance banning the possession and retail sale of spice in their cities. Atascadero was the first local city to impose a ban followed by Paso Robles, Morro Bay and Guadalupe.
Officials at El Camino Junior High School are conducting an investigation into the use of spice by the five students. The three children who required medical treatment were released from the hospital Friday afternoon.
