The Mythical Menace of Marijuana-Infused Halloween Candy

This week the Denver Police Department warned
parents to be on the lookout for marijuana-infused candy that might
show up in their kids’ Halloween haul. As I show in my latest
Forbes column, this fear, though often voiced by law
enforcement officials, never seems to materialize in any actual
child’s trick-or-treat bag. Here is how the piece starts:

Move over, razor blades and shards of glass. The latest menace
to innocent trick-or-treaters, according to the Denver Police
Department (DPD), is marijuana-infused candy passed off as unspiked
versions of the same treats.

This week the DPD posted a video in
which Patrick Johnson, proprietor of Denver’s Urban Dispensary,
warns that “there’s really no way to tell the difference between
candy that’s infused and candy that’s not infused” once the
products have been removed from their original packages. The video
illustrates Johnson’s point with images of innocuous-looking gummy
bears and gumdrops. He advises parents to inspect their kids’
Halloween haul and discard anything that looks unfamiliar or seems
to have been tampered with.

Det. Aaron Kafer of the DPD’s Marijuana Unit amplifies that
message in an “Ask the Expert” podcast,
saying “there’s a ton of edible stuff that’s out there on the
market that’s infused with marijuana that could be a big problem
for your child.” Noting that “all marijuana edibles have to be
labeled,” Kafer recommends that parents make sure their kids “avoid
and not consume anything that is out of the package.”

CNN turned these warnings into a widely carried story headlined
“Tricks, Treats and THC Fears in Colorado.” According to CNN,
“Colorado parents have a new fear to factor in this Halloween: a
very adult treat ending up in their kids’ candy bags.”

Actually, this fear is not so new. For years law enforcement
officials have been warning parents to be on the lookout for
marijuana edibles in their kids’ trick-or-treat sacks. And for
years, as far as I can tell, there has not been a single documented
case in which someone has tried to get kids high by doling out
THC-tainted treats disguised as ordinary candy. 

Read the whole thing.