The Story About THC-Laced Halloween Candy Shifts From Malevolent Strangers to Careless Parents

The change in official warnings and news coverage reflects the dearth of evidence that malicious pranksters are trying to dose trick-or-treaters.

When you put candy in bowls for trick-or-treaters tonight, remember that you might need nut-free options for kids with allergies. You also might also want to consider including gummies or lollipops for kids who don't eat chocolate. And don't forget: You must be careful not to accidentally mix your expensive marijuana edibles in with the cheap, less psychoactive bundles of sugary goodness you bought at Target or Walmart.

If you think that last reminder is not only gratuitous but also an insult to your intelligence, you are not alone. But this is the latest spin on perennial warnings about the supposed hazards of cannabis candy on Halloween, and it actually represents an improvement.

For nearly two decades, alarmist government officials, abetted by credulous reporters, have been warning parents prior to Halloween that malevolent strangers might try to get their kids high by passing off THC-infused treats as ordinary candy. These alerts are a version of the old urban legends about razor blades, needles, and glass shards hidden inside Halloween candy, and they are equally grounded in reality.

"We didn't find a single case of a person purposefully giving children marijuana edibles on Halloween in an attempt to harm them," Snopes writer Dan Evon reported in October 2021. That assessment is consistent with what I have found every time I have compared the breathless annual advisories about this purported danger to reports of actual cases. Those reports are almost always misrepresentations of qualitatively different phenomena, such as middle-schoolers who deliberately consumed marijuana gummies, Japanese candy in wrappers decorated with maple leaves that cops mistook for cannabis leaves, and a guy who "filled empty marijuana packets with [ordinary] gummy bears" after "he ran out of Halloween candy."

The incident that most closely resembles the scenario imagined by cops like Bureau County, Illinois, Sheriff James Reed (who erroneously claimed that Crunch Choco Bars made in Japan contained THC) happened two years ago in Canada. A Winnipeg couple, 63-year-old Sheldon Chochinov and 52-year-old Tammy Sigurdur, was accused of handing out marijuana edibles such as "THC infused Nerds candy" to trick-or-treaters, which they said was an honest mistake.

Last March, CBC News reported, Sigurdur "was sentenced to pay a total of $5,000 in fines as part of a joint recommendation accepted by a judge for her role in handing out the cannabis edibles." Here is how CBC News describes what happened: "Without her glasses on, Sigurdur filled plastic zipped sandwich bags with various candy and gum she found in the closet—not realizing about a dozen of the bags had edibles in them before she gave them to her husband to hand out at the door."

The dearth of cases in which people deliberately tried to dose children on Halloween has led to a noticeable change in warnings from law enforcement agencies, public health officials, and news outlets. They now typically emphasize the potential for accidental confusion, as opposed to malicious pranks.

These advisories still highlight the similarities between the packaging of some edibles (usually not state-authorized products) and the packaging of national candy brands. Any reasonably alert adult is bound to notice the differences, such as cannabis leaves, THC content labels, conspicuous warnings about "intoxicating effects," and descriptors like "medicated," "infused," and "medical marijuana." Kids, by contrast, are apt to be less careful, which is why they sometimes unknowingly consume marijuana edibles that adults have failed to keep out of their reach.

This is a real and obvious hazard, but it is not limited to October. Yet news outlets, prompted by the official warnings we always hear this time of year, cannot resist the Halloween angle.

"As Halloween approaches," Highland County, Ohio, Health Commissioner Jared Warner said in one such missive this month, "I wanted to talk about something important. With legal cannabis/marijuana edibles being relatively new to Ohio, official statistics are scarce. However, Cincinnati Drug and Poison Control informed our health department staff that they receive approximately 2-3 daily calls regarding accidental THC poisonings involving children consuming edibles."

Why is Halloween relevant? "With Halloween around the corner," Warner explained, "many homes will be filled with candy—and sometimes THC products can look just like the treats our kids love. This makes it easy for our kids to grab something they shouldn't while searching for snacks."

It is "easy," of course, only if parents are negligent. Warner is basically telling parents who carelessly leave marijuana edibles scattered about the house to stop doing that, which is eminently sensible but might not have much impact given the target audience.

The headline that The Highland County Press used for Warner's warning is telling. "Avoid Accidental Poisoning," it says. "Keep Kids Safe Around THC Edibles This Halloween."

And maybe the rest of the year too? Despite the weird framing, neither Warner nor the Press is claiming that parents need to worry about marijuana edibles in trick-or-treat bags. Which, as I said, represents an improvement.

KABC, a Los Angeles TV station, likewise emphasizes the responsibility of parents who might inadvertently allow kids to raid their stash. "Experts Warn Against Dangerous Edibles After Multiple Children Ingested What Looked Like Candy," the headline says, referring to "17 children at Walter Reed Middle School in Studio City" who "had to be medically evaluated after possibly consuming a banned substance that officials said looked like candy."

In another report, KABC is hazy on exactly what the "banned substance" in those gummy bears was. But it quotes a Los Angeles City Fire Department captain who said it was not fentanyl and described symptoms consistent with THC edibles: "lethargy, increased heart rate, some anxiety type symptoms," but "nothing that was life threatening."

Notably, neither story says the students unwittingly consumed psychoactive gummies, so this may be another case of teenagers who knew what they were doing but should not have had the opportunity to do it. "It's definitely frustrating," one parent told KABC. "You feel like, 'What are the parents doing at home? Are they doing a good job teaching their kids what to stay away from?'"

Children "can be especially susceptible to gummies because of their size and weight," Ted Kokosinski, emergency department director at Northridge Medical Center, told the TV station. "What could be a normal dose for an adult can be toxic to a child."

Inevitably, the story invokes Halloween, even though the holiday apparently had nothing to do with this incident. "As Halloween approaches, medical experts say parents need to remain diligent," KABC reports. "We just really want to make sure that with Halloween coming up that children don't accidentally ingest gummies," Kokosinski explains.

Despite the de rigeur Halloween angle, KABC does some debunking. "Law enforcement experts say the concern isn't really that someone would hand edibles out intentionally on Halloween," it says, "but that all that candy kids do come home with may get mixed up with gummies that belong to parents or older siblings."

The University of Virginia's health care system is similarly skeptical of claims about the threat posed by intentional distribution of marijuana edibles to trick-or-treaters. "It is unlikely that a child will return from trick-or-treating with THC-laced edibles, or any other dangers, in their basket," it says. "However, if THC-laced edibles are present at a home where trick-or-treaters visit, someone could grab the wrong product by mistake to give to children. And if children discover THC-laced edibles on their own, they may eat them."

Middletown, Ohio, Health Commissioner Jackie Phillips Carter likewise urges parents to ensure that "cannabis edibles are locked up and away from small children and pets," adding, "If you have gummies at home that are medicinal and the children have gummies from trick-or-treating, they could get mixed up." But the Liberty Township Journal-News quotes that advice under this misleading headline: "Parents Warned This Year to Inspect Halloween Candy One Year After Rec Marijuana Became Legal."

WJW, the Fox station in Cleveland, also skirts close to familiar fearmongering. "As trick-or-treat approaches," it says, "there's a renewed warning to parents to check their children's Halloween candy for anything unusual." In that warning, the Ohio Division of Cannabis Control (DCC) implies that treats handed out to kids might be "Delta-8 and similar products outside of the DCC-regulated market," which are "untested and unsafe since there's no telling what they may contain, including contaminants." So "as trick-or-treat approaches," the DCC "advises parents to scrutinize their children's candy for anything unusual before consumption."

Last week, NPR reports, the attorneys general of Arkansas, Connecticut, Illinois, New York, and Ohio issued similar warnings "as Halloween approaches," part of "a coordinated effort to advise parents about the dangers of marijuana edibles," which "can easily pass as regular candies and snacks." Connecticut Attorney General William Tong hit the usual points about the dangers of "unregulated" and "illegal" edibles in "packaging designed to look like well-known snack foods and candy." Mercifully, his press release did not mention Halloween.

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost was less reticent. "Parents need to be extra cautious, especially around Halloween, that these copycat products don't wind up in treat bags," he said.

WTVT, the Fox station in Tampa, likewise seems to be sounding the usual alarm. "All the ghouls and goblins will be out in full force this week searching for the best candy, but there's a different kind of trick lurking in the night," it says. "There are growing concerns about THC-laced candy mixing in with your normal treats."

As the story ultimately makes clear, however, the "growing concerns" are related to accidental "mixing." The station quotes a doctor who has treated "patients as young as three" who he says "mixed up candy, thinking it was old Halloween candy, but it was actually edible marijuana, and ingested a very large amount." He adds that the products are "very colorful" and "kid friendly," which is "worrisome to us."

WTVT also quotes the board chair of the Hillsborough County Anti-Drug Alliance. "There's so many parties and candies going around," she says. "It could accidentally go into your child's Halloween candy."

Backing up such concerns, the San Antonio Express-News reports that "three sixth grade students in Texas mistakenly ingested candy they believed was for Halloween before realizing the sweets were actually laced with THC." The paper says "the children came into possession of the gummies after one of the students' parents shuttled high school students" to "a Halloween event the night before." The parent "was unaware the THC-laced candy was left behind in the vehicle."

The Halloween news peg remains appealing, even when it does not make much sense. But in general, the story has shifted from intentional targeting of children to mixups that might endanger them, and journalists are increasingly aware of the logical and empirical problems with the old narrative.

"There are two concerns that seem to go viral each year: fears of razorblades in Halloween candy and people handing out marijuana edibles to children," notes WCMH, the NBC station in Columbus. But "in the last five years, Columbus police have not received a single report of drugs or weapons in Halloween candy." During the same period, data from Mount Carmel Health Systems show, "the number of children who came into Mount Carmel's ER because of tampered candy is zero." The Central Ohio Poison Center likewise reported "zero calls for help related to candy collected by trick-or-treaters."

WCMH quotes the poison center's director, who describes such concerns as "one of those old wives' tale[s]." The station also quotes Mount Carmel's medical director. "Every year it seems to pop up, this almost urban legend of people putting razor blades and other harmful objects in candy," he says, "and the truth of the matter is we just don't see that."

The "biggest risk," he adds, "is kids getting injured while running around, either by falling down or falling off their bike, you know, potentially getting hit by a car. Those are real dangers. And parents need to be aware of them and properly supervising their children."