Some people seem genuinely concerned for the youth of America. Others are memeifying the warnings. So, how likely is it that Halloween treats are full of tricks?
suggested the fentanyl-on-Halloween warnings were strategic partisan messaging, given the upcoming November midterms. ”What better way is there to drive home your tough-on-crime, war-on-drugs electoral messaging than to convince parents that the cartels are in the house down the block and are handing out synthetic opioids to your kid?”
Experts are exasperated by the resurgence of yet another poisoned Halloween candy narrative, stating that drug dealers are not giving free pills to children en masse. “Drug markets are based off profit gain and profit margins,” Mariah Francis, a Resource Associate with the National Harm Reduction Coalition, tolddebunked the weed-in-candy scare
. “I can’t find any evidence of any child being killed or seriously hurt by a contaminated treat picked up in the course of trick-or-treating,” Joel Best, a sociology professor at the University of Delaware who has studied the topic since 1983, told reporters. These ideas spread “primarily among people who have no idea what [drugs] cost.”
Over the years, a slew of other tampered Halloween candy claims has emerged. But nearly every time Best investigated them, they were found to be bogus, according to the. For example, two teens from Pennsylvania claimed in 2015 that they found needles in their treats—but days later that wasThat doesn’t mean tainted candy hasn't harmed people.