Everyone has heard the frightening urban legends about razor blades in apples and poisoned candy handed out by villains hoping to murder innocent little children. Thankfully, pretty much every one of those actual suspected poisoning cases, with a little research, can be proven to be false. All are either specific acts of violence against a particular child, misread test results, or blaming “poisoned candy” in order to cover up another crime.
But in recent years there is growing concern about people putting drugs into the candy baskets of trick or treaters. In particular, the issue seems to surround brightly colored pills that may resemble candy but are in fact Ecstasy.
A classic example of this would be the picture recently posted on Facebook, displaying a selection of pills shaped like skulls, dominoes and the superman logo. The initial post included the following warning:
If your kids get these for Halloween candy, they ARE NOT CANDY!!! They are the new shapes of “Ecstasy” and can kill kids through overdoses!!! So, check your kid’s candy and “When in doubt, Throw it out!!!” Be safe and always keep the shiny side up!!! If your kids get these for Halloween, it’s not candy.
The image and it’s attached warning was shared and re-shared on Facebook, and on October 19th, the Police Department in Jackson, Mississippi, put it on their blog as a warning to parents. It then spread virally as an “urgent Halloween warning” from police.
Bad candy not likely handed out as much as we think
While there is certainly no denying the fact that illegal drugs come in a wide variety of shapes and colors, and that the pills regularly include imprints of little patterns and symbols, what is not factual is that these are regularly handed out to children on Halloween.
According to Snopes.com, this is entirely fictitious. On their website they point out that “as is often the case with such rumors, the public seemed to conflate the existence of a drug that looked child-friendly (such as blue star tattoos, pink meth, or colorful MDMA tablets) with deliberate manufacture of those substances with an intent to attract children.”
There are very few facts to back this story up, as every “Halloween candy poisoning” story has later been debunked, Some because they were false to begin with, others because they were meant as “jokes” or “tricks” played by other children, and some to cover up other crimes.
However, as parents we understand the fear that can come from allowing your children to eat candy that they received from strangers. So all we can say is this: don’t let fear of unlikely events ruin your Halloween, but if you are truly concerned, simply tell your children not to eat any of their candy until you have had a chance to check it first. Better safe than sorry.