As I noted in a
column a couple of weeks ago, law enforcement agencies have
been warning parents for years that strangers with cannabis candy
might try to get their kids stoned on Halloween by passing off
marijuana edibles as ordinary treats. At that point no actual cases
of such trickery had materialized, and apparently that is still
true even in Colorado, where state-licensed stores have been
selling THC-laced lollipops, chocolate bars, and gummy candies to
recreational customers since January (and to patients for
years).
“Fears that trick-or-treaters here might end up with
marijuana-laced candy on Halloween appear to have been overblown,”
reports USA Today. “Children’s Hospital
Colorado reported no instances of accidental pot poisonings from
Friday night.” Once again, we see how effective officials warnings
about this threat can be: Cops keep telling parents to be vigilant,
and so far no trick-or-treater has accidentally gotten high.
Imagine what might happen if police let a year go by without
talking about the menace of marijuana-infused Halloween candy.
Alas, the Associated Press
cites some evidence that undermines this banana-vs.-alligators
theory:
A Denver-based testing company offered 1,000 free kits to
parents wanting to screen their trick-or-treaters’ haul for
marijuana’s psychoactive chemical. However, only 45 parents took CB
Scientific up on the offer as of Friday….“My honest opinion is that’s an overblown fear that was created
by the police,” said CB Scientific CEO Bill Short.
Police may have created the fear, but Short’s company happily
capitalized on it for publicity. Similarly, USA
Today helped promote the scare it is now debunking. In an
October 22
story headlined “Marijuana-Infused Candy Raises Colo. Halloween
Concerns,” the paper reported that “some Colorado parents are
worried their kids might come home with something dangerous after
trick-or-treating this Halloween: marijuana-infused candy.” The
story cited two examples of such parents: Rachel O’Bryan, founder
of SMART Colorado, a group that lobbies for restrictions on
marijuana in the name of protecting children, and Frank McNulty, a
state legislator who is pushing for a regulatory crackdown on
marijuana edibles. USA Today also quoted Patrick
Johnson, the marijuana merchant who appeared in the Denver Police
Department’s
video about pot in Halloween candy. The only skeptic was Dan
Anglin, chairman of the Colorado Cannabis Chamber of
Commerce.
“We see this as a problem,” O’Bryan said, “and we don’t believe
it’s being blown out of proportion.” McNulty was a bit more
cautious. “I don’t think you’re going to see a lot of marijuana
candies in Halloween bags,” he said, but “it is something that
parents need to think about.” Like Johnson, McNulty suggested that
parents worried about this putative pot peril need not take any new
precautions. After all, doesn’t every parent carefully inspect
Halloween candy for broken glass, razor blades, and other puported
hazards to innocent trick-or-treaters? In other words, if you are
already hypervigilant as a result of other
baseless scare stories, what’s one more phony threat?
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