'Panicked' man 'high' after being served McDonald's tea stuffed with marijuana

A man believes he stumbled on a secret code at McDonald's and was handed marijuana. Photo / 123rf

Police are investigating a man's claims he was handed a McDonald's drink stuffed with bags of marijuana, which left him "high as a kite" and panicked while he was at work.

Parrish Brown now believes he stumbled upon a secret drug code, when ordering "extra lemon" with his iced tea. He told the Island Packet he thinks he heard the clerk pause when he ordered the drink late last month.

Mr Brown, 24, said the drive-through worker paused before repeating "extra lemon" at a McDonald's at Hilton Head Island in South Carolina in the US on October 27.

He said drinking the iced tea, he noticed it wasn't giving him a pick-me-up effect, so he lifted the lid and realised it was full of bags of marijuana.

He said by poking in his drink with his straw, he'd pierced the bags, causing the drink to become spiked with the leaves of the drug, news.com.au reports.

"I have never had weed a day in my life, so immediately after I started drinking it, I started to feel weird and it didn't taste like something I recognised," Mr Brown said.

Mr Brown also ordered chicken nuggets and a cheeseburger, but these items reportedly weren't spiked.

Mr Brown said he felt "high as a kite," and was "panicking" while at his job, so he called his dad who urged him to contact police, and tell his manager what had happened.

The young man claimed he had a difficult time convincing authorities of what had occurred, but once an officer responded and viewed the bags in the cup, they corroborated the substance appeared to be marijuana.

An investigation into the incident is ongoing, according to Major Bob Bromage, from the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office spokesman. He didn't specify which particular McDonald's restaurant was being investigated over the allegations. The marijuana found in the drink has been submitted for evidence.

A representative for McDonald's in the US said the company is "fully co-operating with law enforcement on the validity of this claim".