A Virginia mother has been charged with felony murder and child neglect in the death of her 4-year-old son, who authorities believe ingested a large amount of THC gum. Detectives arrested Dorothy Annette Clements on Wednesday and she is being held without bond, the Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement posted on Facebook. Felony murder is the accidental killing of a person in the commission of certain felonies. Court records do not list an attorney for Clements. Clements’ son, Tanner, was found unresponsive on May 6 and taken to a hospital where he died two days later, news outlets reported. Clements told police that only one gum containing CBD, which does not cause a high, was left when her son got into the jar. When she told poison control that the boy ate part of a stick of gum, she was assured he would be fine, according to court documents. But documents show that when police seized the empty jar, they learned the gum contained THC, the compound that gives the pot high, not CBD. Toxicology results showed the child had extremely high levels of THC in his system, documents state. The detective wrote that the attending physician reported that if the boy had received medical attention shortly after eating the gum, his death could have been prevented. Tanner Clements’ death was ruled accidental and the cause of death was delta-8-tetrahydrocannabinol toxicity, according to Office of the Chief Medical Examiner Central District Director LaKeshia Johnson. Before being charged, the mother told WUSA-TV that she thought she had bought CBD gum from a Fredericksburg store and had no idea that what she bought actually contained THC. She said the boy had suffered a “heart attack” and said her son was found to have “something strange with his heart”. While some states have banned such products, others have worked to place limits on them. Virginia lawmakers grappled during this year’s legislative session with how to regulate THC products, with the goal of limiting sales of delta-8 items in particular. But they failed to reach a consensus amid fierce backlash from the cannabis industry. A state task force has met to consider options for next year’s session. The Food and Drug Administration warned last year that products containing delta-8 THC “have not been evaluated or approved by the FDA for safe use in any context.” Between December 2020 and February 2022, the agency said it received 104 reports of adverse reactions involving products containing delta-8 THC. National poison centers received 2,362 cases of exposure to such products during the same period, including one pediatric incident coded as fatal, according to the FDA.
