A 9-year-old boy from Zeeland fell into a coma for three days last month — now, the cause for his sudden decline in health may be linked to cannabis found in Haribos.
On May 23, what began as a normal, carefree day for the boy quickly spiralled into nausea, dizziness, and the feeling he might pass out.
According to RTL, doctors ran scans and tests but the cause of his symptoms remained a total mystery until test results revealed something unexpected in his urine: cannabis.
Three days in a coma
The child spent three days in a coma, unresponsive in intensive care. Thankfully, he woke up and was discharged on Monday, May 26.
But there was still one burning question: how did cannabis get into his system? His mum was baffled as the only people around him were his grandfather and aunt.
Enter: the Haribo plot twist
Fast-forward to May 29 and everything suddenly clicked.
The NVWA (that’s the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority) issued a warning: a batch of Haribo Happy Cola F!ZZ candy was found to contain, you guessed it: cannabis.
This came after two children and an adult in Twente also fell ill. One of the children had also ended up in a coma.
The boy’s mum suddenly had a lightbulb moment, her son had eaten Haribos the afternoon he fell ill. She rang the police again, but by then, the sweets were long gone, the wrappers tossed, and stomachs emptied.
Haribo responds with a firm ‘not us’
The boy is back in school but still battling nightmares and trauma. His mum is shaken and demanding answers. In her words to RTL, “Drugs in children’s candy is too absurd for words.”
Haribo says the Zeeland case wasn’t on their radar. They have since sent a batch of suspect sweets off for independent testing but received an all-clear.
Now, they’re teaming up with the authorities to get to the bottom of this mystery.
Meanwhile, the NVWA says it’s received more reports from across the country. But due to privacy rules, they’re staying tight-lipped on the details.
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