THC-Laced Candy Sickens 24 at Rap Festival; Michigan Man Held

BUTLER, OH — A southeast Michigan man accused of passing out THC-laced candies that sickened 24 people Saturday at an Ohio rap music festival is in jail on a felony drug-trafficking charge, according to media reports.

Matthew Lee Gross, 28, of Ypsilanti, was arrested on the fifth-degree felony charge by authorities with the Richland County Sheriff’s Office after the EST 2016 concertgoers ate packets of candies containing THC, the psychoactive compound in marijuana that gives users a sense of euphoria.

The music festival held in Butler, 60 miles northeast of Columbus, was billed “The Last Weekend on Earth." Cleveland rapper Machine Gun Kelly was the festival's headliner.

All of those who were sickened were treated with an overdose antidote naloxone at OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital, and all are expected to be fine, WXYZ/WTTE reported.

METRICH Commander Lt. Joe Petrycki told the Mansfield News Journal that “overdose” was too strong a word to describe the effects of the drug-laced candy.

“They didn’t lose consciousness,” he said. “They just felt different.”

The packets, which were labeled “Prescribed Medibles” and “Nerd Bites,” contained about 20 candies, and “each had a very, very high dose of THC,” Richland County Sheriff’s Major Joe Masi told the Mansfield News Journal.

“We have not seen this stuff in our area before,” he said, adding that the director of the Mansfield Police Department crime lab noted after analyzing the candies that he had “not seen such a high concentration of THC in his lab” prior to Saturday’s incident.

“What likely happened is whoever passed these out did not give the people any instructions,” Masi said.

A witness began taking pictures of a man as he tossed packets of THC-laced candy into the crowd, and the photos were forwarded to law enforcement, who identified him as Gross, the Mansfield newspaper reported.

After he was arrested, Gross presented two identification cards that indicate he is licensed to grow and process medical marijuana in Michigan. Sheriff’s deputies searched his bag and found candy in the same packaging as the candy that sickened the concertgoers, according to a police report. Police said they also found a small bag of marijuana in Gross’ pocket.

Gross claimed he found the candy on the ground and it was not his, authorities said.

Image: Festival headliner Machine Gun Kelly by Rick Uldricks