The Five Best Drug Scares of 2015
Super-potent pot, formaldehyde in e-cigarettes, the supersoldier pill, MDMA in trick-or-treat bags, and "$5 insanity"
From impossibly potent marijuana edibles to "$5 insanity," this has been a good year for drug scares. In my latest Forbes column, I recall some of my favorites:
Believability is key to a good drug scare, because if it doesn't catch on it's not much of a scare. At the same time, you have to admire claims that catch on even though a moment's reflection reveals them as ridiculous. The trick for an aspiring drug scare is to forestall reflection by being so compelling and repeatable that it gets passed around before anyone has time to think. In this annual list I recognize tall tales about drugs that rise to the challenge.