Debunking Cannabis Halloween Myths

Another Halloween requires another debunking of cannabis Halloween myths. Particularly the myth that people are handing out cannabis edibles to your children.

British Columbia‘s Minister of Public Safety, Mike Farnworth, told parents to look out for legal and illegal edible products.

Even though legal products are capped at 10mg and come in child-resistant packaging, Farnworth said, “legal cannabis products can still be attractive to children.”

How? Legal cannabis involves rigid packaging and labelling rules to ensure children and young people aren’t attracted to the products.

Is Farnworth an idiot or spreading misinformation? Maybe both?

Anyone with an internet connection and common sense can debunk these cannabis Halloween myths.

No Evidence, Just Hypotheticals

Every year around this time, police and politicians release the same news releases. The same debunked cannabis Halloween myth repeated year after year – your children’s Halloween candy may include a THC edible.

It’s never explained why someone would put a pricey THC-laced treat in with dollar-store bite-sized snacks. Nor have there ever been any documented cases of this happening. 

There’s nothing irresponsible about checking your child’s Halloween candy after their haul. But to promote this debunked myth about cannabis edibles is irresponsible. 

And hypocritical since the ones promoting this nonsense would likely be the first to silence your dissenting opinions on COVID lockdowns or the origins of the Russian-Ukraine war to combat “misinformation.”

OK, so the idea of cannabis edibles ending up in Halloween candy is a thoroughly debunked myth. But what about “rainbow fentanyl?” 

A DEA press release warns parents that Mexican drug cartels are targeting your kids this year with “rainbow fentanyl.” Even Joe Rogan discussed this on a recent podcast.

The problem is there’s no evidence for this. As in zero. Nada. 

Brightly coloured fentanyl is about branding and chemical composition. Didn’t these DEA agents ever watch Breaking Bad?

The show’s famous blue meth was not just a result of the chemicals they used but also brand recognition. Other meth dealers added blue food colouring to compete.

And sure, that was a television show. But it happens in real life.

A child’s opioid receptors are too sensitive to fentanyl. If you give it to a child, they’ll likely overdose and die. 

They do not become repeat customers. “Rainbow fentanyl” is not an attempt to appeal to children.

Debunking Cannabis Halloween Myths

Debunking cannabis Halloween myths is easy when the propaganda is so lame.

Take the Nevada State Police, for example. They found cannabis edibles disguised as regular candy. So they released their “Halloween PSA.” 

What’s not reported on is how the police determined these sadists would distribute edible cannabis to children on Halloween.

The Nevada State Police have taken an enormous leap in logic. Think about it::

• Premise A: Cannabis edibles exist
• Premise B: Some resemble regular candy 
• Premise C: It’s Halloween season

• Conclusion: Cannabis edibles will end up in your child’s plastic pumpkin container. 

Again, it’s good form to check your child’s Halloween candy. But it’s unhealthy paranoia to believe someone is sticking cannabis-infused candy or “rainbow fentanyl” into your child’s bag.

Consider the warning from police in El Paso, Texas. According to the local media, “Police officials stated drugs are being packaged for distribution in resealed bags of legitimate well-known brands of candy in other states.” 

So someone out there has got THC liquified in a syringe and is surgically infusing it into regular candy and chocolate? 

And there’s no way for parents to know. Except by either testing all the candy or throwing it all out. Or by skipping Halloween altogether.

Of course, the El Paso police didn’t find this hypothetical THC-infused Halloween candy. They found edibles disguised to look like regular candy.

Again, the leap is significant. Instead of using candy brands as a technique to skirt edible laws, according to El Paso police, the only reason to package cannabis like this is to hand it out on Halloween to unsuspecting children.

Why?

Getting Kids High on Halloween

The easiest way of debunking these cannabis Halloween myths is to ask why. What payoff is there to give out free THC edibles to children? Suppose you want to harm random, innocent children. What exactly is the point of giving them THC?

You won’t see the effects of it, they won’t die from it, and depending on how much you give away, this little sadist trick could get expensive. 

So, why? If your goal is to poison unsuspecting children on Halloween, why not use common (and cheaper) household cleaners?

Can anyone explain what’s going on here? Police, politicians and media tend to conflate three different scenarios.

One, you have a child come across cannabis – by mistake – doesn’t realize they’re THC-infused and eats them by mistake.

The second hypothetical involves purposefully giving out THC edibles to children. There’s no evidence of this happening, and parents can check their child’s candy to ensure this didn’t happen to them.

Third, an utterly made-up situation, where someone tampers with regular Halloween candy by injecting cannabis or fentanyl into the sealed product.

This third scenario is a made-up paranoid fantasy.

Have cannabis edibles ended up in trick-or-treat bags before? Of course. But it’s always accidental and often isolated to a single child. 

Debunking Cannabis Halloween Myths

Every year, prohibitionists promote these debunked cannabis Halloween myths. Part of it is a desire to roll back legalization (or to prevent it from happening).

Another part is the desire to control other people. 

The fact is: there is no evidence that a child has been seriously injured or killed by contaminated chocolate or candy picked up on Halloween through trick-or-treating.

There have been cases of a THC gummy getting into a child’s Halloween bag at an event. But an investigation concluded it was an isolated event and accidental.

For last year’s Halloween, New York Attorney General Letitia James issued a “consumer alert,” urging parents to “remain vigilant” for “products that are deceptively designed to look like standard snack foods and candy, but actually contain high levels of cannabis and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).”

She said cannabis edibles “can be extremely dangerous to human health.”

When journalists at a local Buffalo station asked the Attorney General’s office for information supporting these claims, they received no response. 

So they filed a Freedom of Information request. And there were no complaints, hospital visits, or other evidence supporting the “consumer alert.”

Debunking cannabis Halloween myths are easy because the myths themselves are so bad.