College Apologizes for Giving ‘happy Pills’ to Little Kids
A South Carolina college apologized Monday after a faculty member, calling them “happy pills,” handed out M&Ms in prescription drug bottles to little kids at a fun run over the weekend.
“While we know this professor meant the candy to serve as a treat, the method of distribution may have confused pre-school children whose parents have taught them not to take pills from pharmaceutical bottles,” Horry Georgetown Technical College, in East Conway near Myrtle Beach, said in a statement.
“We regret further that professors and administrators are human and, although eager to share information about growing careers, sometimes make mistakes. This particular mistake will not occur again.”
The faculty member, who wasn’t identified, handed out the standard-issue prescription pill bottles to promote her medical technology program. The labels prescribed the “Happy Pills” to “A Great Kid,” instructing “patients” to “Take 1 m&m every 2 to 4 hours.”
“I know they had good intentions, but maybe it should have been handled in a different way,” Tiffany Myers, whose son got one of the bottles, told NBC station WMBF of Myrtle Beach. Myers said her husband is a firefighter and paramedic who “comes across children that get into medicine bottles quite frequently, and it can be very damaging, or it can be life-threatening.”