Ontario man says he was hospitalized after eating dessert from 'straggly'-haired stranger
The Port Stanley man alleges baked goods that he ate contained cannabis and landed him in hospital
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A Port Stanley man is warning others to be cautious about accepting food from strangers after baked goods he ate allegedly contained cannabis and landed him in hospital.
In a video posted to social media, Joshua Fairweather, owner of a local clothing company called Lakeside Apparel, said he took a bite of a cookie and brownie given to him by a woman on Saturday evening and soon started feeling side effects.
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“Last night, I was unknowingly drugged,” he said in the video, holding up what appeared to be a hospital admission wristband. “I was tripping out in a huge way.”
According to Fairweather, he’d been at an event for his business with his partner Ashley and eight-year-old son that morning when an “older woman,” roughly five-feet tall with “straggly” greyish-brown hair and a yellow-green vest, approached them. After a friendly conversation, during which she mentioned she liked to bake, she returned later with a bag of desserts.
He said she looked at his son and told them the snacks were frozen but would be ready to eat once thawed.
Later that evening, Fairweather took a small bite of the cookie and the brownie. His son declined to try them – a decision he said he’s now “so glad” about. Ashley also took a bite but spit it out because of the taste, Fairweather said.
“It smelled a bit funny,” Fairweather said. “I thought, ‘Is this pot?’ . . . And it turns out it was pot. I don’t know what else it was laced with.”
Within 20 minutes, Fairweather said he felt “paralyzed,” began vomiting, and feared he was going to have a heart attack. “I couldn’t control anything,” he said, describing the effects as “hyperventilating” as painful.
He was eventually taken to hospital, though it’s unclear whether by ambulance or another way.
Cannabis poisoning symptoms include chest pain, rapid heartbeat, nausea, severe anxiety, or psychotic episodes, according to the Ontario government’s website.
As of Thursday afternoon, Fairweather’s video had more than 550 reactions, 260 comments and more than 420 shares. In the comments, Ashley Ewart, identified as Fairweather’s fiancée on Facebook, said a toxicology report showed cannabis was the only substance in his system.
Fairweather said in the video he’s used cannabis before, but was unaware the baked goods contained any. “She didn’t say anything . . . insinuating it was OK for me to give this to my eight-year-old. Think about that.”
Near the end of his video he shared a familiar warning: “Don’t take candy from strangers.”
When reached Thursday by The Free Press, Fairweather declined to comment further but confirmed police are aware of the matter.
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