Just in case you were thinking of doing something similar, probably not a good idea…
BOULDER, Colo, Dec 9 (Reuters) – Two University of Colorado at Boulder students are accused of bringing marijuana-laced brownies to a college class, sickening their unsuspecting professor and five classmates, police said on Sunday.
i453ethics 
I wish there was more elaboration to what the symptoms to being sick were. Without this I instantly assume that they became sick with themselves due to their sudden like of Pink Floyd. On a more serious note, it is interesting that these students felt it necessary to do this. Whether it was out of protest that the university refused to allow marijuana use on campus or some other reason, it is quite childish.
Although marijuana is seemingly harmless when used recreationally, it can have devastating effects when individuals under the influence are not aware of its presence. I don’t exactly know how these two kids expected people to react to their prank, but I do not think that it is ever okay to get someone high when they are not expecting it. Marijuana has many symptoms of paranoia and I can only imagine what someone who had never experinced the effects of THC before thought when they suddenly felt sick. I would probably think that I was dying at first. Also, if one of the students or the professor were driving when the effects hit, the results could be potentially fatal.
The act of lacing brownies with marijuana is not an uncommon occurrence. It has been happening for years across the country in high schools and colleges and has never been “a good idea”. However I think the importance of this article is that there is a possibility that its influence directly relates to the recent legalization of marijuana within Colorado. The legalization, among other things, allows adults over 21 in Colorado to possess up to an ounce of marijuana for recreational use. Thomas Cunningham, one of the suspects in this article was 21 and therefore legally allowed to possess marijuana. Despite the state law, the University of Colorado stated that its use on the university’s campuses was still illegal because of federal law and jeopardization of research grant money. However, one thing the article noted was that the University of Colorado only made the above statement to college alumni, therefore one question to consider is were current college students, not just alumni, aware that they were not allowed to use marijuana on campus? Regardless of the statement from the University, it is indisputable that the once the two suspects laced brownies and passed them out to unsuspecting students that they broke the law. Even through marijuana was made legal in the Colorado, this does not mean that everyone wants to use it, nor does it make it right to force other people to ingest it. The act of making something legal often gives the impression to others that it is safe to use, which could have been what encouraged this prank in the first place. Despite the legalization, the effects of marijuana are not always harmless, and it is clearly wrong to make people consume any kind of drug without their consent or knowledge.
The childish act of drugging others without their consent by the two students could have had way worse outcomes than dizziness, panic attack, and hospitalization. The reason for why this was done is uncertain but these two young adults should face severe consequences. Some facts about legalization in Colorado lead us to believe that there could have been motives behind the action. Maybe they were trying to prove that marijuana isn’t safe? or if nothing had happened they could have argued that marijuana is not dangerous and the campus should allow the use of marijuana if it’s supported by state law. Who knows, but now investigation will find the truth. I’m just happy nobody was severely hurt.
I agree with pretty much everyone has stated above. It is ethically and morally wrong to have someone ingest any sort of substance that they are not informed of. Whether this was as a prank or to protest because of the fact that marijuana is illegal on their campus makes no difference. They gave unsuspecting people a drug without their consent. If they did indeed do this to protest, there are many other ways for their voices to be heard and I believe that this is absolutely the worst possible way to have gone about it.
I found this to be an interesting article. When I eat food that other people bring in for something like this, I never expect anything there to have anything unexpected mixed into it. Now that marijuana has been legalized in Colorado, I think that maybe some individuals that live there might think it is acceptable to do something like this. Keeping the fact that marijuana had been added to the brownies, was very unethical based on the fact that they could potentially harm the individuals that eat them. Sending multiple people to the hospital is not acceptable. In a situation like this, it would have been slightly more acceptable to make it known that the brownies did in fact contain something that people might not want to eat. It could go along with disclosing that the brownies contain peanuts to inform those with peanut allergies that they should not eat one. From there individuals could make their own decision on whether or not they wanted to eat a brownie with marijuana in it. It also would have been a little more acceptable if it was not on university property. Overall, if you are going to prank someone, I think it should be by doing something that will not harm the individual, or in this case the university as well.
Clearly the students did not think of all the negative outcomes there prank could have had. Not only did they drug fellow students but also a professor. The school should take this prank very serious. Had a professor or student operated a vehicle they would have committed a DUI. Not only did they trick there professor and classmates, but they did it with a substance that is illegal in most of the U.S. and considered a narcotic. The two students must be held accountable to prevent future pranks of this manner from happening.
This is the type of story that I never thought I would hear. It is not uncommon for college students to experiment with this drug. I never would have thought I would hear of students bringing marijuana brownies into class and allowing others to eat them though. This is a very serious offense, and I would not be surprised if these students end up getting some jail time. These students had no idea how this drug would react on certain people. It is an extremely childish and terrible thing to do. I hope these students realize how severe the consequences of their actions could have been. It must have been extremely nerve wrecking for the victims families not knowing exactly why they were rushing their loved ones to the hospital. Hopefully these students have learned their lesson.
This article clearly points to the immaturity of youth and how students can be irresponsible and reckless when a substance like this is made available to them. I really enjoyed seeing that the president of the university challenged the students to be responsible with the approval of the substance by the state and shedding light on consequences that could befall the university should students abuse it. With substances like marijuana and alcohol, students have to learn to use them in moderation for both their safety and the safety of others at their school.
While I understand marijuana is now legal in Colorado, I think that was a completely inappropriate setting to bring those in. I think it is morally wrong to give someone any kind of mind or body altering substance without their knowledge. I would feel the same way if someone did this with alcohol. Just because alcohol is legal for 21 year-olds, it is still wrong to give another person an alcoholic drink without letting them know what is in it. Furthermore, what if one of those students had a drug test they needed to take within a week or so for a new job? I would like to believe that there was no malicious intent for these students to bring in the pot brownies, but I do know there were a lot of possible negative outcomes that they obviously did not think about before bringing them in.
This was definitely an interesting article. It is illegal and immoral to lace somebody’s food or drink with substances that can cause harm. The students and teacher who unknowingly took these substances could have caused even further damage without meaning to. These students did something that was very childish and not very smart in my opinion. The two students should definitely have to pay for their crime. Most people don’t even bother to think that their food may be laced with something, just like most people wouldn’t put pot in brownies and give them to unsuspecting individuals. This prank/demonstration was not well thought out at all and because of that, it severely harmed these individuals. The students should definitely be held accountable.
I have to start by saying that you certainly can’t get sick from THC. You can get high, which makes you hungry, tired, and has the potential for anxiety, but you can’t get sick… However, I certainly think that this was a very stupid thing to do. No one under any circumstance should give someone any drug without their consent. These students should definitely be held responsible for their actions, but multiple felonies is not the answer. This is also an issue since Colorado has just recently made recreational use of marijuana legal. It is disappointing to see people doing this type of action shortly after the law has passed. These are the stories that the media will feed on to show how bad passing the new law was. If it was any other drug I would say felony charges would be absolutely warranted. However, it’s marijuana, it literally can’t kill you.
Although I don’t consider marijuana to be a harmful drug. The act of giving somebody a substance without their consent is completely harmful and should not go unpunished. These students were not aware of their professor and other students health status or if they have any underlying conditions that could have potentially caused harm to them by ingesting marijuana. Especially when giving somebody a psychological drug that will have clear mental effects. This is completely unacceptable and although nobody was very harmed, it sounds like it was a very unenjoyable experience for the victims.
The students definitely did not think this one through. I could see if they were tricking each other knowing that the other person is used to this drug, but to trick other people who are not used to this drug into ingesting it is wrong. With the different effects that marijuana can cause, these people probably had no idea what was going on. I personally think it was a very wrong thing to do because now these people will have the drug in their system for a little while. Also, they made these and might have put an excessive amount of marijuana in the brownies that would cause anyone to get sick.
Marijuana is actually legal in Colorado, this surprises me a lot. Maybe there are other certain fields to correctly use Marijuana, but allowing marijuana in the state can bring other ethical problems. The main purpose those two students were doing was totally wrong, but this also brings us an ethical issue of why marijuana is considered as legal. Those two students should never get this kind of drug. Moreover, commonly letting people eat without notifying him/her what exactly things he/she is eating is unethical. People are willing to know what exactly things they are eating because the things they eat can lead to some ethical rights, such as Islamic people cannot eat food which contains element of pig.
This is so many things ethical wrong with what these students did. I’m assuming they smoke a ton of weed because that would be the only way they could think this was a good idea. So with that assumption they probably are used to what marijuana does to them but that does not mean these people are going to take the effects of marijuana well. They are basically drugging these people, it’s quite wrong. I think these kids realize now what they did was a mistake but I really do not feel sorry for any punishment they get. I really don’t understand why they thought this was a good idea. I wonder if they knew how illegal what they were doing was or if they thought it was okay because marijuana is now legal in Colorado. Also the article stated the teacher was drifting in and out of consciousness, that seems a little far fetched. Maybe she was falling asleep but I highly doubt she was going unconscious unless she ate like a ton of those brownies. But regardless of exaggeration of symptoms what those kids did was still very wrong.
I find this article pretty interesting, due to the fact that I don’t believe people get sick from marijuana. What they did was wrong, and very unethical, I believe it’s also most likely a felony, feeding somebody a controlled substance. That being said though, I feel like the article is a bit ridiculous. Passing and out of consciousness and blacking out? Those aren’t really effects associated with Marijuana, and I feel like the paper should at least accurately report on the effects of marijuana.
I’m pretty skeptical about this. I have never really heard of anyone getting sick from eating a special brownie, let alone “drifting in and out of consciousness” At least it was Colorado and not Indiana as far as laws are concerned. I think more information is needed before anyone can really pass judgement. Ethically speaking, they probably should not have drugged members of the class and professor. Also, which class has bring your own food day?