Operators at a call center in Argentina were probably pleasantly surprised when one of their coworkers arrived on Monday morning and passed around chocolate brownies to his fellow employees. But soon enough, at least 10 people were experiencing wide ranging symptoms including dizziness and rising heart rates, while others fainted, according to local media.
Authorities have yet to confirm what exactly was inside the so-called “brownies locos”, but they’re widely suspected to have been baked with cannabis.
Videos by VICE
Police and ambulances quickly arrived at the strange scene at the Grupo Konecta call center in the city of Cordoba, and took seven of the unknowing victims to the hospital. The 25-year-old man who brought the brownies has since been fired and arrested. His name has not been released but Argentine authorities said they found him in a house with “105 grams of marijuana and traces of cannabis in some kitchen utensils.”
The authorities also claimed that the man tried to flush the weed down the toilet when they arrived, releasing a photo of a toilet brush amid a gross-looking green and brownish liquid inside the bowl.
One of the co-workers, Noelia, who ate the brownies gave an interview to local media, saying that she only had one bite of the brownie because “it felt kind of weird, it had a bitter taste and I left it because I didn’t like it.”
But even after one bite, she was messed up.
“My body stopped responding, I stopped feeling my arms, legs and mouth,” Noelia said. “It was as if I fell into a well and came back, as if I was fading away.”
As well as firing the offending employee, Grupo Konecta released a statement noting that they only dispense food in the office through state-sanctioned vending machines, but “bringing their own food is a habitual practice of the employees.”
It’s unclear if that practice will continue at the call center. But one practice that certainly will is the duplicitous gifting of cannabis infused edibles to unsuspecting eaters.
In April, a bride and her wedding caterer went viral after allegedly serving food laced with marijuana at her nuptials, sending several unknowing victims to the hospital. They were later criminally charged for the incident.
