Melatonin Sleepy Patches "Stickers" in Schools: A Solution or a Scandal? Ep. 327

Melatonin Sleepy Patches "Stickers" in Schools: A Solution or a Scandal? Ep. 327

A moon-and-stars sticker shouldn’t be a sedative. We dig into reports of “sleepy stickers” allegedly used on young children during rest time, explore what these patches may contain, and confront the deeper issue at stake: consent, safety, and the fragile trust families place in schools. As parents and advocates, we unpack how something as innocent as a sticker becomes a public health concern when it delivers a bioactive substance intended for adults.

We walk through the Spring, Texas case that sparked parent outrage, highlight what caregivers noticed—changes in sleep, appetite, and behavior—and explain why even over-the-counter melatonin raises red flags in classrooms. Beyond the headlines, we connect the dots to mental health: how predictable, safe routines support emotional regulation, and how covert use of supplements can disrupt a child’s sense of security. We also share the policy angle: why district rules forbid unauthorized substances, how investigations unfold, and what administrators must do to enforce clear standards and rebuild trust.

If you’re a parent, guardian, teacher, or school leader, you’ll come away with concrete steps: questions to ask your child, what to check in backpacks and on clothing, how to document concerns, and who to contact when something feels wrong. We balance vigilance with verification, separating social media claims from documented reports while urging communities to speak up. Quiet should come from care, not chemical shortcuts. If you value child safety, informed consent, and transparent schools, this one matters.

If this helped you, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review so more caregivers and educators can find it. Your voice can protect a child—what’s your take?

Chapter Markers

0:00 Mission, Gratitude, And Reach

1:02 Public Safety And Mental Health

2:42 Why Kids Love Stickers

6:10 The Spring, Texas Report

8:59 What “Sleepy Stickers” Contain

12:16 Parent Reactions And Red Flags

16:35 Policy, Investigation, Accountability

19:12 Vigilance For Parents And Caregivers

22:30 Social Media Claims And Concerns

25:05 Ethics, Consent, And Child Safety

#ParentalConsent #Consent #SleepyStickers #MentalHealthAwareness #EducationReform #StudentMentalHealth #HealthyLearningEnvironment #StickersOrNotStickers #SleepySticker #SleepyStickerPatch #YouthMentalHealthMatter #justiceforsurvivors #justice4survivors #VoicesforVoices #VoicesforVoicesPodcast #JustinAlanHayes #JustinHayes #help3billion #TikTok #Instagram #truth #factoverfictionmatters #transparency #VoiceForChange #HealingTogether #VoicesForVoices327

Chapters

• 0:00 Mission, Gratitude, And Reach
• 1:02 Public Safety And Mental Health
• 2:42 Why Kids Love Stickers
• 6:10 The Spring, Texas Report
• 8:59 What “Sleepy Stickers” Contain
• 12:16 Parent Reactions And Red Flags
• 16:35 Policy, Investigation, Accountability
• 19:12 Vigilance For Parents And Caregivers
• 22:30 Social Media Claims And Concerns
• 25:05 Ethics, Consent, And Child Safety

Transcript

VoicesforVoices,JustinAlanHayes: 0:02

Hey everyone, Justin. Thank you so much for joining us on another episode of the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast. We're grateful to have you with us on this episode in our over 325 and counting episodes in our uh our portfolio. Uh, we can't do this without you. So thank you. If you would give us a big thumbs up, like, subscribe, share, follow, comment, all those great things are free to do, and they help us get uh closer and closer to our uh uh overarching goal of helping three billion people over the course of my lifetime and beyond. It's been a busy, busy week. And I don't foresee any slowdown on on the horizon. And uh, and that's okay because that means we're helping people uh in this episode, just like others, uh, we are are bringing topics, and in some of those instances, those topics involve public safety health, public safety concerns, and that and those undoubtedly impact mental health. Um fear of getting COVID, fear of being in a public uh space, and have somebody with ulterior motives coming in and and doing something uh nefarious, uh, whatever that may be, those all affect our mental health, uh, can give us trauma. And we like to uh like to share uh just with uh with you, uh, as we always do, that we are uh gonna continue on this uh this mission, this journey of life, that we're gonna continue helping people. And we are uh in just uh great uh uh great company with you. So thank you that this is uh your first episode, or if you've been with us from the beginning, we can't do this without you. I can't stress that enough. And again, this is Justin with Voices for Voices. On this particular episode, a uh a troubling trend we have been seeing in the news is uh, well, I guess first off, how many how many of you like stickers? Obviously, right, depending on what what they are of, if it's our favorite sports team, our favorite sport, uh if it's a character, um in general, uh people like like stickers, and that goes for children as well. And when children are in that phase of life where they may be sent to school or consider daycare at a young age, uh taking a nap or starting out, usually taking two naps, I think. Uh not everybody is on the same clock. Uh some some children, you know, they uh it takes a while for them to to get get to sleep, and uh, and and and so that can happen. And as a father, uh that that can happen, and that's okay. And so as you know, students are children are uh in the care of others, uh they enjoy not just in those times, but in general, they enjoy getting a sticker. For instance, if somebody you know or your own child is in uh ballet, uh plays a sport, uh drama club, but it doesn't matter what. Um, but one of the things that usually is done at the end of those practices or those um, you know, those run-throughs are the uh passing out of stickers. And so, you know, I know with with my daughter, you know, she gets a sticker after one of her classes, it she's excited uh to get that and and uh you know put it on uh the outside of a water bottle, uh, or you know, put it on her shirt or her jacket or somebody else, like myself. Uh and so that those things, those things that being stickers, those resonate with children, just like a lot of things. And so as I revert back to you know the daycare, the younger years of taking taking naps at at school, taking rest at school, at daycare, uh, however you want to coin the term, some children again, as I mentioned, uh harder to fall asleep than others. And that's okay. But what we have seen, unfortunately, at least in one area, I think there's other areas, but one we were able to nail down specifically, and so I'm gonna put that here up on the screen for us to see of how uh a school daycare facility uh was using uh stickers uh during that time. So give me a second here while I pull this up. And we're gonna do that, and we're gonna do that, and here we are. Okay, so this comes to us from uh the local 12.com news. Uh, this is in spring, Texas, that this particular article uh that we we came across. And as you see up here on the top of the screen is a picture of a sticker, and so you see the crescent moon, you see uh the nighttime cloud and a star too, and uh and so we think okay, what's the big deal? It's a sticker. What what's the big deal? Well, I'm gonna be quoting certain parts of this particular article, so this is not an article that Voices for Voices has uh has posted, and as you can see, that other other news outlets have uh picked it up at the you know KHOU and CNN. And so I'm just gonna read because I think it's it's worth reading. So in quote, parents were expressing shock and concern after discovering that their children were allegedly given sleepy stickers, sleepy, like sleep, sleepy stickers by teachers, and so these weren't just stickers, uh the patches. So now we're talking like okay, if we see a picture, but when you say the patches that incorporates makes us think that there's something else included on that sticker. And again, we're going to continue quoting this. This article from local 12 in Spring, Texas. The patches which contain melatonin, among other ingredients, are intended for adults as sleep aids. Four-year-old Lane Louviano was the first to reveal the situation in September when she brought home, uh, when she brought one of the stickers home from Northgate Crossing Elementary School. And quote, the sticker makes me fall asleep, end quote, says Lane. And we're still quoting the article. Her mother, Lisa Ljubiana, recounted the moment she learned about the stickers. Quote, she kind of pulled up her shorts and said, Mom, look at look, this is my sleeping sticker. And I was like, What? says Lisa. And Lane explained that the teacher placed a sticker on her arm, describing it as sleeping with a moon on it. And so we'll scoot on up just to give that. So sleeping with the moon on it, right? Armless. Lane's dad, Joseph Luviano, said he knew something was wrong since school first started. He says that two o'clock in the morning, I hear some noise in the room and I go over and she says it's still up, said Joseph. Luis or Lisa Luviano took action by contacting other parents. Oh, hopefully, hopefully we're able to get through that. There we there we go. Sorry about that. That's what happens, you know, with the free versions. Uh sleepy stickers. Okay. Uh so Guilford researched a sticker online and found it to be a sleep Z patch containing ingredients she was not familiar with. Uh, another concerned parent, Najala Abdullah, noticed changes in her son, who had also been receiving the stickers. Quote, they're giving them drugs that make them sleep, to keep them quiet, said Abdullah, adding that her son had been crying, stopped eating, and was bringing home untouched lunches. Parents received an email from the school's principal stating that two staff members were placed on leave after allegedly administering sleeping supplements to students on September 24th. The spring ISD police department is investigating the incident. The school district stated on Wednesday morning that administering any unauthorized substance violates the district's policy. And so this is a sleepy sticker, and this is happening and has happened. So we're gonna stop to share and come back here live. So what do you think about that? How's it make you feel? Do you have a child in in daycare? Four years old, three years old, two years old, five. Are they coming home with with stickers saying the same thing? That these are this is my sleepy sticker. If they are, alert the administration at a school district where uh where your child goes to school or daycare and or daycare. Because sometimes there's different programs, you know, before school or after school. Um even when even when children start um start entering kind of the uh the the school funnel of starting with uh you know kindergarten and first grade, etc. So likely this hadn't didn't happen with my child that I'm aware of. But as you can tell, it is a very big public safety health concern, public safety concern when not just that these items, these sleep Z or whatever the terms are called for them, not just the fact that they're available, it's the fact that some teachers and some classrooms are using them to help the children sleep. And if that was happening to my child, and I found out about that, uh there would be some discussion about that, and so this is for anybody here, not just in northeast Ohio, not just the state of Ohio, not just the United States, but maybe also across the world. You know, we are reaching 90 countries, 800 plus cities across the globe. So welcome, whether you're near or far to the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast. And we're just talking about these patches which look like stickers uh that are given to some children to have that help that child, those children sleep at at rest time and nap time. And so that's a big, big, uh, big public health, public safety concern. And so that's why we're we're doing a whole episode on it, because of how big of a concern it is. We only hear about, I don't even know, less than one percent of all the news stories that actually go on. So we hear such a low amount that I'm just assuming that this might be happening in other locations, other areas. You know, this was in spring, this is in spring, Texas. It could be happening anywhere. So, as parents, caregivers, we need to be vigilant. And you know us at Voices for Voices. When we see something, we say something. And again, if that that's something you don't like, turn the channel. You got plenty of other options you can you can watch and listen to. Uh, we are gonna tell things and stories and cover topics that are hard to talk about, hard to fathom. This is one of them. The think that somebody would on purpose do this, put the sleepy sticker on the children's arms. Uh I'm not trusting TikTok 100%, but I have seen a couple tick tick tock videos where not only were what was being portrayed in those videos uh was the sleepy sticker. Some of the some of the uh what again in good faith from what I saw, and I can only go off of that. Uh some some teachers would put them over the children's mouth, almost like you know to keep them quiet. So not just the patch with oils and other drugs and and and ingredients in there, but they're taking it to that next level and putting it over somebody's mouth. And I don't know about you, but when when I think about the horrific thing of kidnapping, that's for whatever reason that's my my mind goes there. I don't know if it's from TV shows or movies, uh, but my mind goes there as you know, people are kidnapped and then they're held in a room or held somewhere, and then they have duct tape over their mouth. So, you know, people next door or nearby, they can't hear them scream. And and and so that that's what this reminds me of. I'm not I'm not saying any of these teachers are kidnapping, and I'm that's not what I'm getting at. I'm just saying that there's a similarity of not only having these patches with the you know that you know their sleepy sticker, uh with melatonin and some and other ingredients, essential oils to try to help a child uh get get to sleep for nap time, rest time. But when they put them over their mouth, again, I I haven't independently verified. I've done some investigation, and we showed you that, and that's what we do. So even if even if you don't see something specific, you can rest assured that we we've looked into topics, looked into events before we talk about them. And that includes even things that have happened to our us as individuals, as human beings. And so we're here to help people, we're here not to have children uh taken by any any nefarious means. But when I saw and heard about this, these sleepy stickers and and what was included in them, uh it just it it just uh made made me uh just very confused on what would make somebody a teacher, somebody an authority to do that. But again, it's happened. So if you live in Spring, Texas, it's happened in your area. It may have may have been it may be happening in in my area. I don't I don't know. I know from my daughter uh when she was going through uh those uh ages, uh that to the best of my knowledge, that that was not occurring. But again, it's one of those one of those things. If we don't talk about, if we don't say something, we don't show it, we don't investigate, talk about it, and just bring it to the forefront, then nobody nobody else will. And and so the sleepy stickers is a very uh if it's bigger than just one isolated uh daycare school that this is happening to, and I don't like to assume I assume it's going on other places, I don't know, but I know what we just showed you, and that's a news article, and even the school district was saying that you know basically under no circumstance should this be going on in any of our speaking as an administrator in that article, but that should not be going on in in our school district. Basically, it's it's prohibited. So we've done a lot of child safety, uh, public safety, public safety, public health announcements and and and uh episodes this week. Uh, we're gonna continue as as uh as as they arise to do that and and share when uh we we we think that in our estimation and our good faith that we uh we have some information that we want to share. So parents uh take a look, put this uh one last time as we close. Um do this, and uh we're gonna go here and there and share. Okay. So this is the sleepy sticker, or can be considered another name. Uh it may be up to you know each teacher how uh what the name of it is if they do it. Uh but again, this happened in Spring, Texas. Uh and the uh the parents were alarmed by the sleepy stickers given to students at school. And uh so this is for parents everywhere, this is for grandparents everywhere, this is for aunts and uncles. This is uh and actually this has been happening because this is in 2024 when this particular article went out, we're in 2025, so it's about a year, oh close to a year, so we're a week within. So this is October 10th. We're we're uh filming this on October 3rd. Uh, and the TikTok videos are are that I I was referring to are uh are showing more current if those are indeed legitimately happening, but we just showed you that evidence plain as day. So if you or anybody you know sees that, please say something. It's not right, it's not something that uh teachers should be doing. Uh and we need to protect our children at all costs. We need to do the best that we can. It it may not seem glamorous, but uh we'll see on the next episode of the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast. Be a voice for you or somebody in need. We'll see you next time.