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Three Seniors Hospitalized After Accidentally Eating Marijuana-Laced Brownies

HUNTINGTON BEACH (CBS) — Two 71-year-old women and an 82-year-old man who accidentally ate brownies laced with marijuana had to be treated at a hospital Monday.

They ended up in the emergency room at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian after they unwillingly ate the brownies at a mutual friend's memorial service on Saturday afternoon, Huntington Beach police Lt. Russel Reinhart said.

The three complained of nausea, dizziness and trouble standing, he said.

The friend who was being memorialized used to eat medical marijuana brownies, so someone made them and put them out for mourners without announcing what was in them, Reinhart said.

Though "medical marijuana is not the crime of the century and it's nothing new," Huntington Beach police posted news about the seniors and a Friday night holdup of medical marijuana deliverers on the city's Facebook page because of the U.S. Attorney's announcement that authorities will begin to crack down on dispensaries that make a profit off the drug, which is illegal, Reinhart said.

Federal authorities announced Friday they plan to crack down on medical marijuana collectives throughout the Southland that are operating as for-profit businesses.

California voters legalized medical marijuana in 1996, but only for people with a prescription, and anyone cultivating it must operate as a nonprofit.

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