Police charge man after South Dakota seniors unwittingly eat pot brownies

The stakes were high — and scary — at a South Dakota community center card game. A group of seniors inadvertently ate a batch of cannabis brownies brought by a 73-year-old woman who didn’t know that her adult son had baked them with THC butter. The incident happened last Tuesday in Tabor, a town with a population of 423 people, according to an affidavit obtained by The Smoking Gun. Police responded to several calls of a “possible poisoning” and found that all the patients had been playing cards at the Tabor Community Center and were “under the influence.”

Cops arrested Michael Koranda, 43, after he reportedly told them he had cooked the illicit goods with half a pound of THC butter he bought in Colorado, where recreational cannabis is legal.Michael Koranda’s mother reportedly took the brownies he baked after he went to bed.

Koranda then went to bed and “his mother unknowingly took the brownies to the card game where several people ate them,” the affidavit read. He was charged with possession of a controlled drug or substance, which is punishable to 5 years in prison, according to the report.

Cannabis edibles can have a significantly stronger effect on users than smokable marijuana. Manufacturers warn that it is easy to accidentally ingest a paralyzing amount by overconsuming the tasty treats.

South Dakota voters approved an amendment to legalize recreational cannabis in November, but that referendum was struck down by the state’s high court.

Cannabis remains illegal on the federal level, where it is classified as a Schedule I drug.