Argyle police sent one 17-year-old student to a hospital emergency room for intoxication and arrested a second student on a felony charge of possession of a controlled substance after finding a bag of hallucinogenic mushrooms in his car Monday.

Police Chief Tom Tackett issued a warning to students and their parents about the dangers of using mushrooms, some of which can be lethal if ingested, and medications that are not prescribed to them.

Police officers responded to Argyle High School and found a student they believed to be intoxicated, said Tackett. They cited the student for public intoxication, a Class C misdemeanor, and called an ambulance.

The student did not have anything illegal in his possession, Tackett said.

“He was clearly intoxicated. He passed out in the classroom and he couldn’t walk, and we couldn’t make much sense out of things he said,” Tackett said.

An investigation revealed that two substances were possibly involved, according to Tackett. One was the prescription medication Xanax, commonly known as a “quad-bar” because of scoring marks on certain tablets, and psilocybin, or hallucinogenic mushrooms. 

Possession of psilocybin is illegal and the student didn’t have a prescription for the Xanax.

Tackett said the student had been with another student just prior to passing out, so school administrators searched that teen’s car.

“They found a sack containing psilocybin,” Tackett said. “We have not seen this before in our community, and it’s disturbing that we found it in our school.”

Police obtained an arrest warrant for the second student, Wesley Sikes, 17, of Denton. He remained in Denton County Jail on Wednesday in lieu of $5,000 bail and could not be reached for comment. A conviction could result in incarceration from two to 20 years and a fine not to exceed $10,000. Because the drugs were found in a drug-free zone, the sentence could be longer.

Tackett said research shows that the biggest danger in taking psilocybin mushrooms is that they are easily confused with other types of mushrooms. Many varieties of mushrooms are poisonous.

Poisonous mushrooms also produce the hallucinogenic effects people are looking for with the psilocybin mushrooms. But they can kill, he said.

Toxic mushrooms can cause stomach pains, vomiting, diarrhea and even death. There is no way that, just by looking at a mushroom, you can determine the strength of the active hallucinogen it contains, Tackett said.

“Possession of prescription medication that is not yours is a criminal offense,” Tackett also said. “Taking prescription medication that is not prescribed to you is not only criminal, it is foolish. Only your doctor and pharmacist, not your friends, can advise you of the safety of or the adverse effects of a prescription medication.”