James Lick students in San Francisco sickened after eating rainbow candies

SAN FRANCISCO (KTVU) - Ten students at James Lick Middle School in San Francisco's Mission-Dolores neighborhood suffered "adverse reactions" to a substance they ingested on Tuesday, and some students told KTVU they saw other students eating a rainbow-colored gummy strip laced with marijuana, pills that could be Xanax and using a vape pen with marijuana oil. 

Five of the 10 students, ages 12 to 15, went to the hospital, according to San Francisco Unified School District spokeswoman Jessica Wan. Of the 10 students, one student was showing especially adverse effects. None of the students' conditions are life threatening.

Eighth grader Matthew Garcia spoke to KTVU at James Lick Wednesday morning - he had been in the hospital until 6 p.m. the evening before. He insisted he didn't eat the rainbow candy that made his friends sick. The candy looked just like regular candy, he said. But then, his friends "started feeling dizzy and started throwing up," he said.

Officials have not yet formally announced what the substance was. "We are working with the hospital and poison control to determine the exact substance which at that time we'll be able to divulge what that actually was," said John Baxter, spokesman for the San Francisco Fire Department.

Parent Tia Mignonne said she was extremely panicked driving over to the school after first responders showed up at the middle school at 1220 Noe St. School officials say a student came into the office at around 1:20 p.m., to report feeling ill after ingesting an unknown substance. 

"These are babies," said Ella Alexander, a parent of an 11-year-old.  "This is a middle school. My kid is in 6th grade. Now I'm going to be on BART  explaining the whole situation with her and make sure she's on extra lookout to make sure she never consumes it." 

Students were upset too. 

"It was kind of upsetting," 14-year-old Kai Indig said. "It's weird to know that people my age are doing drugs and stuff."

Stay with KTVU.com for updates on this developing story.