Cannabis Cake Accidentally Served at Funeral, Sending Mourners to the Hospital

(TMU) — As anybody who’s tried marijuana edibles knows, imbibing too much can be an overwhelming experience—complete with potential panic or anxiety attacks, drowsiness, nausea, and an hours-long high that frequently sends frightened consumers scrambling for hospital emergency rooms.

So imagine what would happen if mourners at a funeral were accidentally served a bountiful amount of hash brownies, undergoing an involuntary cannabis high.

Such was the case in the eastern German city of Wiethagen when, following a burial of a loved one, a funeral party went to dine at a restaurant on coffee and cake, as is the tradition in Germany.

According to DW, the 13 mourners chowed down on the chocolate cake before suddenly falling into the grips of the potent hash cake. At that point, the party began feeling strong nausea as well as dizziness.

The high was apparently so strong that one woman had to be hauled off to the hospital by ambulance during the funeral, while the others eventually sought medical treatment later in the day.

According to authorities, the employee at the restaurant tasked with preparing the cakes had asked her 18-year-old daughter to make the cakes for the funeral. Police believe that while she did bake the funeral cakes, she also prepared a separate cake that she planned to consume on her own or with friends.

However, when her mother went to fetch the funeral cake from the freezer, she instead took the hash cake without checking with her daughter to see which cake to take to the restaurant.

While the incident happened in August, it is only now coming to light—primarily out of respect to the mourners.

The 18-year-old is now facing a heavy raft of charges, including 13 charges of negligence and body injury, violating German anti-narcotics laws, as well as disturbing a funeral.

While it’s impossible to fatally overdose on cannabis, the side effects from ingesting too many cannabis edibles can feel hellish—with paranoia, anxiousness ,and increased heart rates lasting anywhere from three to six, or more, hours.

Leafly reports that in Colorado, where recreational cannabis has been legal for about 5 years, doctors see multiple cases of overconsumption among adults at hospitals. Much of this is due to the increased prevalence of high-concentration THC edibles.

Dr. Eric Lavonas, an emergency physician and medical toxicologist at Denver Health Medical Center, explained:

“When people smoke pot, they get peak effect of the drug within a few seconds … which allows the user to self-regulate, to sort of get where you want to be.”

However, with edibles, “when that train leaves the station, you don’t know where it’s going to go for 30 minutes to two hours.”

And in extreme cases when people have gone “way over the top,” it becomes difficult for people to understand “what’s going on is a chemical reaction in the body. They’re unable to control that behavior. But that’s uncommon compared to people who just simply feel terrible and need a little help in getting over it.”

By Elias Marat | Creative Commons | TheMindUnleashed.com