The temperature is dropping, the pumpkins are out, and the Halloween copaganda is here. It happens every year: a local ABC, CBS, ABC, or Fox affiliate reports on the dangers of drug-laced candy in your kid’s trick or treat bag. But “how many children have actually been seriously injured or died as a result? The answer – given the available data on the topic – seems to be not a single one,” according to Canada’s CBC News.
Joel Best, a University of Delaware sociology and criminal justice professor, has researched reports of Halloween candy tampering in the U.S. dating back to the 1950s. “I couldn’t find a single report of a child killed or seriously injured from a contaminated treat received during trick-or-treating,” he said. “This is a contemporary legend, and that’s all it is.”
Best identified about 200 confirmed cases of candy tampering in the U.S. and Canada since 1958.
“The attempts to systematically follow up on all reports concluded that the vast majority were hoaxes,” Best said.
There’s even a Wikipedia page for “poisoned candy myths.” But here we go again:
BEWARE: As Halloween gets closer, @BensalemPolice are warning parents to LOOK at your child’s candy before they eat it. They confiscated these snacks that look a lot like the real thing. All are laced with THC @6abc pic.twitter.com/u6GFBXt08g
— Jaclyn Lee (@JaclynLeeTV) September 28, 2021
“BEWARE: As Halloween gets closer, @BensalemPolice are warning parents to LOOK at your child’s candy before they eat it. They confiscated these snacks that look a lot like the real thing. All are laced with THC @6abc,” 6 ABC reporter Jaclyn Lee tweeted. Parents should look at candy given to their kids by strangers (good advice!), but to center the fake panic around drugs is Reefer Madness-level fearmongering. Because if there’s one thing drug dealers love, it’s giving away weed for free.
This particular scare tactic tweet did not have the desired effect, unless she meant to drive tourism to Bensalem, Pennsylvania, which is apparently loaded with free edibles. In that case, thank you for the public service.
Who the fuck gives away edibles and what’s their address again? https://t.co/41aFk3FylO
— Dman (@LifeofaDman) September 28, 2021
every time a town's police issues warnings like these it implies the town has so many expensive edibles that they just give them out. bensalem the stoner's paradise https://t.co/VRgTL1KK06
— john (bsky: @wilddog.gay) (@mexicanwilddog) September 28, 2021
https://twitter.com/LetsFishSmarter/status/1442945981390016517
https://twitter.com/RyanLoco/status/1442939096846897153
https://twitter.com/normcharlatan/status/1442939964044419077
How are reporters in the year 2021 still parroting the ridiculous things claimed by police? https://t.co/yruGEh4p0Q
— Gabe Ortíz (@TUSK81) September 28, 2021
every year some local tv person falls for cop scare tactics and does a story about people giving kids free drugs lol https://t.co/TbKFCEBOwu
— jordan (@JordanUhl) September 28, 2021
https://twitter.com/thegates0fmel/status/1442946921778143233
https://twitter.com/girlsgutsgiallo/status/1442946019856027648
https://twitter.com/DanielleAlberti/status/1442938675898159104
People won’t even spring for full-size candy bars for trick-or-treaters, but sure Jaclyn: Halloween is a springboard to Reefer Madness, and dropping $25 edibles into kids’ pumpkin buckets is how the stoners bring about the Weedpocalypse.
— trash, but make it fashion 🦝✨ (@ElleArmageddon) September 28, 2021
man if this were real you bet your ass i'd be out there in full cosplay pushing trick-or-treating kids aside to get the goods https://t.co/CuOtVyVb9N
— jalter (eepy) 🦎💥 (@Leic1s) September 28, 2021
https://twitter.com/Cryptoterra/status/1442940156357451780
Local news reporters when the cops send out the October 1 press release about weed candy https://t.co/jjMhqEyr3y pic.twitter.com/TWEPpXq64v
— Christopher Ingraham🦗 (@_cingraham) September 28, 2021
It’s not even October yet. There’s still plenty more of these to come.
(Via CBC)