Amid unwelcome national attention, Naperville North Principal Stephanie Posey said Wednesday that some students Tuesday probably ingested laced gummy bears willingingly, but others might have been duped.

Naperville police reported one 17-year-old male, an NNHS student, was taken into custody yesterday and released. By then, numerous local news sites had spread the word, and the story even caught on with national media outlets, such as CNN and BuzzFeed.

Posey said she is disappointed that the actions of a few have put NNHS in a negative light.

“I don’t want anybody to have this one image of Naperville North,” she said. “But if anybody watches media, social media or otherwise, we’re known for so many good things.”

According to Naperville Police Commander Jason Arres, students were interviewed on the way to the hospital yesterday. Some students mentioned cannabis; however, the crime lab has not yet identified the substance.

Keith Hartenberger, Public Information Officer at Edward-Elmhurst Health Center, said 12 of the 14 were admitted to the hospital directly for ingestion of the substance.

“We categorized all the patients as being stable… everybody was, all things considered, in pretty good shape,” said Hartenberger.

If the substances turn out to be cannabis, the ability of students to obtain and distribute these gummies may be a repercussion of the new national campaigns geared to legalize the use of medical and recreational marijuana. Seth D. Ammerman, member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Substance Abuse detailed the effect of these campaigns in a statement from the AAP.

“Just the campaigns to legalize marijuana can have the effect of persuading adolescents that marijuana is not dangerous, which can have a devastating impact on their lifelong health and development,” he said.

This incident is not the first of its kind to occur this year, and is part of a disturbing trend. This will be at least the second incident this semester in which students have been hospitalized from substances consumed in school.

The news has also caught popularity on social media sites such as Twitter. Many of these same news sites posted their reports on social media, drawing wide ranging reactions from both students and adults alike. Michelle Fregoso, District 203 Director of Communications, believes the amount of positive press and the high reputation that Naperville North holds will cancel out any negative attention the school is receiving.

Principal Posey made an announcement seventh period Wednesday, condemning the actions of the few who put their fellow students in danger and tainted the reputation of the school. Posey confirmed there will be no school wide assembly held to address the issue.

Many parents had an anxious Tuesday afternoon, frantically texting their children to make sure they were well. Raquel Conwell, mother of a freshman and a senior at Naperville North, was surprised considering all that North has done to try to prevent student drug use.

“I was very shocked that it happened right after Chris Herren,” she said. “It should have had a good effect on kids, but [this incident] happened so soon after the talk.”

Multiple students were concerned that Chris Herren’s message was not taken seriously given how recent his visit was to NNHS.

Through a representative at The Herren Project, Herren said he thinks it is sad that students are continuing to use drugs and alcohol, and he hopes his message of loving yourself without needing alcohol or drugs will eventually get through to students.

Posey emphasized this incident should not make students ashamed of NNHS.

“Being a Huskie matters and being a Huskie is important,” she said.

Kate Putman, Marina Silva and Hannah Jorstad contributed to this report.