REGINA – The Moose Jaw Police Service is still looking for answers on why five kids ingested seeds from a toxic plant this weekend.
Corp. Dave Purdy said police were notified Monday that the kids – said to be between 11 and 15 years of age – had been taken to the hospital the day before when parents noticed something was wrong.
Purdy said the investigation is ongoing, but is "kind of on hold until we can talk to the kids."
He said the youths are being treated for consumption of Angel’s Trumpet, a toxic but legal plant that can cause symptoms when ingested, such as hallucination, elevated heart rate, pupil dilation, fever and aggression – and, in some cases, death.
"Until we kind of talk to the kids, we don’t know exactly what happened – I mean, to confirm exactly what happened. All we know is what they’re being treated for," he said.
He said the youths are in hospital – two in Regina – and are unable to speak to police at this time since they are still experiencing the effects of the seeds. Purdy said he couldn’t provide information on the condition of the youths.
He recalled the plant having posed some problems in Moose Jaw in the 1990s, but didn’t have additional information about those incidents.
"I don’t think we had really any problem since," he said.
A Regina Police Service spokeswoman said she isn’t aware of similar incidents in Regina.
Purdy said one possibility police will likely explore is whether the youths accessed information on the Internet.
"There’s just way too much information and way too many kids are getting hurt," he said.
Police are advising parents to be aware of what their children are doing and looking at online.
Grant Wood, assistant professor at the University of Saskatchewan’s Department of Plant Sciences, described Angel’s Trumpet as a large annual flowering plant – part of the Datura family, which contains a number of toxic plants.
"You’ll find that there are some nasty things in the Datura family, and therefore probably you should not be eating any part of that plant," Wood said.
He said he wasn’t aware of similar Saskatchewan cases of ingestion of the plant, but wondered whether banning the plant should be considered if its abuse becomes a problem.
"If you know that kids are abusing the plants that you have, yeah, that’s probably – just as a homeowner – that’s something I would quit growing then for sure," he said. "Whether an outright ban is necessary or not, I’m not sure, but from a moral perspective, I would probably stop growing it myself."
Angel’s Trumpet has been treated as an intoxicant by some for a number of decades in North America and other parts of the world. An article published by the American Journal of Psychiatry in 1977 stated intoxication by the plant at that time was "becoming more frequent due to its use by adolescents and young adults as a legal, readily available hallucinogen."
In addition to fever and hallucination, the article said symptoms include delirium, agitation, and persistent memory disturbance. Severe intoxication can lead to flaccid paralysis, convulsions and death.
A spokeswoman for Alberta-based Poison and Drug Information Services said other symptoms to watch for include flushing of the skin and dry mouth and mucous membranes. She said there’s no known antidote, meaning doctors can only treat the symptoms, which vary depending on the amount ingested.
She also wasn’t aware of other recent similar cases and said calls to the poison control centre about Angel’s Trumpet poisoning are rare.
Comments
Want to discuss? Please read our Commenting Policy first.