On Tuesday Dec. 6, 14 Naperville North students were admitted to Edward Hospital as a result of consuming gummy bears laced with a drug or some other substance. This is at least the second time this fall that students have needed medical attention after brazenly consuming a harmful substance at school. Everyone in the building — administrators, teachers, and students — needs to take action and make clear this is unacceptable.

Naperville police said students interviewed on the way to the hospital mentioned cannabis, but the gummies are still being tested. School officials believe some ate the laced gummies knowingly, while others may have been duped.

For a school that pushes the message BU24/7 so persistently, it’s safe to say that staff and fellow peers are extremely disappointed in this sad affair. What cannot be ignored, though, is the fact that students, even if they had knowledge of the drugs or not, took candy from someone who was just handing them out of a bag in a school environment.

The Naperville bubble has popped.

We learn in preschool to not take candy from strangers, so what makes it so different when it’s a peer that you don’t personally know? Students want to believe they can trust anyone who attends NNHS, but considering previous events this school year, it was not wise to eat candy that people had been passing around. In fact, it was plainly foolish.

But it’s also time to review our system for discouraging drug use. While you can never fully prevent high schoolers from doing drugs, the district must find a way to prevent them from being passed around in our school. Administrators are committed to giving students a second chance, and even if they weren’t, new state laws on discipline often tie their hands. However, has this lead to a culture where students, admittedly a few, feel comfortable passing out drugs in the relative open?

On its own, BU24/7 is not stopping the kids who already use drugs. BU24/7 is a start, but the way this theme is relentlessly pushed onto students has caused many to not take it seriously, weakening the originally powerful message.

Instead of being humiliated by the national coverage, Naperville North should use this as an opportunity to take off their blinders and realize that events like this can happen and already have. The bubble has popped, but it’s up to the students to take that breath of fresh air.