Indiana Honor Student Barred From Graduation After Mistaking Edible for Candy

HAMMOND, Indiana — A Hammond School District eighth-grader was prohibited from walking at her middle school graduation ceremony after consuming a cannabis-infused edible she believed to be candy, according to her mother, Claudia Johnson. 

The incident occurred Tuesday at Charles Scott Middle School, coinciding with the student’s 14th birthday. School officials first contacted Johnson to report her daughter was not feeling well. Approximately 25 minutes later, they called again to explain the student had been given an edible by another student, Johnson said. 

By the time Johnson arrived at the school, she observed her daughter exhibiting signs of impairment. “She was walking drowsy, dizzy, slurring. She was half as a rock,” Johnson stated. “She was high.” Johnson expressed heightened concern due to her daughter’s history of seizures. “She could have sank. She could have been in a coma. Anything could have happened,” she added. 

According to the family, another student later informed school staff that a classmate had allegedly provided the edible while claiming it was candy. The student believed to be the source of the edible, also an eighth-grader, was expelled. The student who consumed the item is described as an honor roll student with no prior history of drug use. 

Despite the circumstances, the family received their daughter’s diploma but was instructed not to attend Thursday’s eighth-grade graduation ceremony. Johnson is now calling on the Hammond School District to review its decision to bar her daughter from participating in the commencement exercises. 

“I just feel like a disappointed daughter,” the student shared. “You feel like you’re a disappointment to your mom, but you didn’t know. I mean, if you didn’t know, what’s the other option here?” She acknowledged her error, stating, “I did something I had no business to be doing… I still took it and I had no reason to take it.” 

The student expressed particular sorrow over missing the ceremonial milestone: “I feel excited [about graduating with honors], but it’s like, this is my only time I can walk across for eighth grade.” 

Johnson emphasized the celebratory context that was lost: “People coming out, taking photos, going out to eat, people coming from out of town.” 

Requests for comment from Charles Scott Middle School and the Hammond School District regarding the incident and the district’s disciplinary policy in such cases are pending.