The Columbia County Sheriff's Office said a 3-year-old who took marijuana to a Lake City school on Monday will not be charged, but deputies and child welfare officials are looking into where the boy got the pot.
According to an incident report, the preschooler showed the marijuana to a classmate inside a classroom at Niblack Elementary School. According to the report, the classmate told their teacher about the marijuana and the 3-year-old was searched.
School officials found two small baggies containing less than 20 grams of marijuana on the child, who told authorities it came from his father.
The report said the child was suspended for the rest of the day and released to his mother, who denied knowing where the marijuana came from. A Sheriff's Office spokesman said the mother allowed the Sheriff's Office to search her home and no illegal drugs were found.
The report said the mother told deputies the boy might have "gotten the weed" from a neighbor's house where he plays.
The Sheriff's Office said the incident was investigated as a case of possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia, both misdemeanors, but there were no charges filed because of the child's age.
"I don't think this kid knew what he had on him -- that he knew it was marijuana, knew that it was illegal, knew it was a dangerous drug," a Sheriff's Office spokesman said. "If it came from home, if it came from the street, if it came from the school bus, we just don't know where it came from at this point."
The report said the Florida Department of Children and Families was notified of the incident.
"It was kind of shocking because you never think anything like that would happen," Principal William Murphy said. "Kids pick up things, and so you never know where they picked it up from."
School officials said the boy is developmentally disabled and hard to communicate with. They said the student attends the school for voluntary prekindergarten, and he was back in school Tuesday.
