The other day, I noted that a
partner in CB Scientific, immediately after promoting his company’s
test kits as a defense against the mythical menace of
marijuana-laced Halloween candy, added, “Not that we believe
anyone will be passing out pot candy to kids…” New York
Times reporter Jack Healy likewise is totally not lending
credence to unsubstantiated rumors about strangers with cannabis
candy who want to get your kids high. Except that he is.
“To some marijuana advocates,” Healy
writes, “the warning belongs with shadowy urban legends about
poisoned chocolates and candy bars spiked with razor blades. There
have not been any reported cases of marijuana-laced treats being
passed out on Halloween here [in Colorado], and edible marijuana
comes in drab packages that look nothing like regular candy.” Yet
Healy uses the Halloween angle to introduce a story about the
hazards supposedly posed by newly legal marijuana edibles. Even if
there is no truth to tales of tykes taking THC-treated treats from
tricksters, he says, “the Halloween message underscored a growing
concern among parents’ groups and regulators that the abundant new
varieties of legal, edible marijuana just look too much like
regular food.”
That concern recently led Colorado’s health department to
briefly propose a ban on almost all forms of marijuana edibles. It
quickly backtracked from that idea,
for good reasons. But let’s take the concern about lookalike
cannabis candy at face value. Doesn’t it cast doubt on the
effectiveness of warnings about marijuana edibles in trick-or-treat
bags?
The Denver Police Department and other law enforcement agencies
emphasize that the marijuana products look exactly like
conventional candy, even while urging parents to be on the lookout
for them. Short of testing every piece of candy (which would make
the folks at CB Scientific very happy but would be prohibitively
expensive), how is a parent who takes these warnings to heart
supposed to distinguish between spiked and unspiked versions of the
same product? They can toss out loose gummy candies and jelly
beans, of course, and any edibles in their original packaging will
be readily identifiable. But wouldn’t a prankster who is determined
to slip your kids cannabis candy think of putting it in packaging
from conventional candy? Alternatively, he could buy regular candy
and dose it with cannabis tincture. The truth is that there is no
reliable, cost-effective defense against someone bent on disguising
drugs as Halloween treats.
It’s a good thing such people
do not seem to exist. Not only are there no documented cases,
but the idea is implausible on its face. It would be a pretty
pricey prank, since cannabis candy is a lot more expensive than the
conventional sort. And what exactly is the payoff? The knowledge
that, hours later, after the kids get home, eat the candy, and it
starts to kick in, they will feel loopy and drowsy? The prankster
would never know for sure that kids actually got high from his
candy, and if they did he would not be around to witness the
results.
But fear springs eternal. Today the Associated Press
reported that police in Prince George’s County, Maryland,
“seized several boxes of candy infused with marijuana” that had
been shipped from Colorado and “the West Coast.” Exactly when this
seizure happened is not clear, but the reason for announcing it
today is: “Police say it’s the first time they’ve seen that type of
product in their jurisdiction and wanted to make parents aware of
the seizure ahead of Friday’s trick-or-treating.”
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