This Halloween, parents are being warned to make sure their children are not being given marijuana-laced candy while trick-or-treating.
The idea that people would use expensive drugs to hand out to children on Halloween is nonsensical and holds little merit.
There have been no reported incidents of a child ever receiving marijuana-laced candy on Halloween. The warning issued in New Jersey stems solely from the fact that a significant quantity of marijuana edibles exist in the state and a singular incident of a child ingesting one.
None of this suggests children are likely to receive these edibles in their Halloween candy.
These types of Halloween urban legends are nothing new. Before marijuana, the common worry was razor blades or poison could be found in Halloween candy.
These legends may stem from the fact that many wrongful child deaths have been blamed on harmful Halloween candy when they were actually the fault of the parents or family. This was the case with Timothy O'Bryan, whose father was found guilty of giving children cyanide-filled Pixy Stix.
People die from random causes on any given day, but on Halloween, their deaths are much more likely to be blamed on dangerous Halloween candy instead of whatever the actual cause may have been.
These concerns also have strong ties to the 1982 Chicago Tylenol murders. Many Chicago residents died after taking cyanide-laced Tylenol capsules purchased from their local drugstore, which lead to mass panic and a permanent change in the idea of consumption.
Unlike candy with razor blades or poison, ingesting marijuana-laced candy would not physically harm a child. Therefore, the intentions by those who would hypothetically be handing out these edibles would be purely to get children high, which also seems incredibly unlikely.
The idea that anyone would give away their edible products for free is hard to believe, considering they are relatively expensive and time-consuming to make.
It can be assumed the main objective of making them is either to sell them or to consume them, so there would be absolutely no benefit to giving them away to trick-or-treaters on Halloween.
Another large part of this legend most likely comes from those who oppose the legalization of marijuana. Since marijuana is legal in some states, those who oppose its legalization could exploit this fact and fear-monger parents of the danger of legally-obtained marijuana.
The hope of this fear-mongering would be to build a potential opposition against the drug's legalization or decriminalization.
However, it is possible to make or obtain edibles regardless of whether or not the marijuana itself was obtained legally. It is possible to obtain marijuana illegally in almost every state. The outlandish idea fails to serve as an argument against the decriminalization of marijuana.
Overall, it is safe to assume children will not be receiving any marijuana-laced candy in their trick-or-treat bags this Halloween. The idea is based in false logic, fear-mongering and a tired political agenda.
