Florida bride and caterer arrested for allegedly lacing wedding food with marijuana

New Jersey on Thursday became the latest state to begin selling legal recreational marijuana — not on Wednesday, explained Tori-Anne Blake, spokeswoman for New Jersey's newly formed Cannabis Regulatory Commission, because "selecting 4/20 for opening day would have presented unmanageable logistical challenges" for buyers and communities. People lined up before dawn to buy pot from a legal dispensary, not their illegal dealer, The New York Times reports.

In Florida, medical marijuana is legal but recreational weed is not. And even if it were, slipping people marijuana in their food unawares is a felony, as a bride and her caterer learned.

Seminole County Sheriff's Office arrested Danya Svoboda and her wedding caterer, Joycelyn Bryant, on charges of reckless tampering, delivery of marijuana, and culpable negligence, local news stations reported Wednesday night. Guests at Svoboda's Feb. 19 wedding reception in Longwood told deputies they felt "weird" and "stoned" after eating the food, according to the police report.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Deputies asked Svoboda if she had consented to or requested that the food contain marijuana, and "the report states that she stared at the deputy with a blank expression before saying no." Fox 35 Orlando notes. But the guests' "feelings of being stoned were later confirmed when they tested positive for marijuana," The Washington Post reports. A lawyer for the bride told WESH 2 News that he and his client are not commenting on the case.

Miranda Cady, a guest at the wedding, is commenting. A friend at her table was "like, 'Are we stoned right now?' And everyone was just kind of looking around each other laughing and we absolutely were. We were high as a kite, out of our minds," Cady told WESH 2. Later, she said, "I thought I was having a heart attack. My heart was racing and before I went to bed that night, I actually slept in my car right on-site."

"I know so many of my friends wouldn't want me speaking," Cady added, "but I think it's so important that people stand up for what's right and you have to respect other people's free will and boundaries and to have a choice in something like that."