Two staff members at Hawke’s Bay Hospital ended up in the emergency department of their own workplace after tucking into a cannabis cake.
As reported by 1News, the cake - containing marijuana - was brought to a staff shared lunch on June 30.
Health Minister Simeon Brown confirmed the two staff who munched on a slice were not clinical workers or senior medical staff, but part of the admin team.
He added that both were treated and are understood to be doing fine.
Health NZ’s Rika Hentschel said they took the incident “extremely seriously” and moved quickly to deal with it. Police are now looking into what went down.
Brown also stressed the seriousness of the situation.
"Ultimately, it's an employment matter and I'm not responsible for such matters, but it's been taken incredibly seriously," he said.
It’s totally unacceptable behaviour.
As for whether the person who brought the cake is still working there, Brown said he doesn't know.
While the incident has sparked a serious response from officials, reactions online have been a mix of shock and amusement.
“There's a baker at home who didn't give the correct instructions on which cake to take for morning tea 🤭,” one Facebook commenter wrote.
“Lol, oh God, that is so funny! Shame about the two that got a bad buzz,” said another.
“Real life Grey's Anatomy,” added a third.
One person suggested the stunt was a case of "The old 'if I'm getting drug tested we all going down'".
Others wondered how the consumption of cannabis cake was treated in an emergency department.
Police have confirmed they’re looking investigating the incident, and no doubt the next group lunch is going to be really awkward.
