Halloweed: Cannabis Candy on the Loose in Denver

Recently, Denver police issued a pre-Halloween warning to residents: the candy your kids get this Halloween could be infused with marijuana and you should just throw it out if it’s not from one of the big, name-brand candy companies (since when did Halloween work for corporate America?).

Patrick Johnson, owner of a Devner area dispensary, was recruited by Denver PD to make a film illustrating how weed-candy can look deceptively like regular candy. He commented that many pot-candies are just normal sweets, bought in bulk, then sprayed with hash oil. After the oil dries, he claims there is no way to tell them apart.

Some in the industry say this is just some opportunistic fear-mongering. A blogger for Ladybud stated, “This is just another way for those who most benefit from marijuana prohibition to try to convince the public that prohibition protects children. The real message here is that the average citizen should be wary of cannabis users; they might want to drug your kids and get them ‘hooked’ too.”

Sure, we expect Ladybud to offer such comments, but they aren’t the only voice to cry bunk on this claim:

“Jacob Sullum, a contributor to the Forbes website, writes that the warning seems to fit the pattern of other, often unconfirmed, Halloween candy scares. He notes that a database search turns up no evidence of marijuana candy being passed off as Halloween candy since 1996, the year California legalized medical marijuana use, but several examples of warnings that it might happen. “There is a cost to such bogeyman stories, and it goes beyond needlessly discarded candy. These rumors portray the world as a darker, more dangerous place than it really is, which is probably not conducive to a happy childhood or a successful adulthood.”

I remember as a kid in California, that we were forbidden from eating candy apples because a rumor was circulating that certain deviants were pressing razor blades into the apples, then coating them with caramel. When the unsuspecting child bites into the apple, they get the blade in their mouth instead. I’m not sure how true that was, but it was enough to cast a shade on candy apples for a long time.

For my personal input on this, I just have a very hard time believing cannabis-candy to be a realistic fear. For starters, weed-candy isn’t cheap. At my dispensary, a weed gummi-bear runs about a dollar a gummi. That would add up mighty fast if you were giving them out as Halloween treats.

Secondly, for all the crying about the evil cannabis-man, I have yet to meet one stoner who would relish in the idea of tricking children into getting high. It sort of goes against the general stoner mindset. We are peaceful people who like our weed. Giving it away to children violates that mindset on both levels. Lastly, you CAN tell pot candy from regular candy. No, it’s not always visibly obvious, but the smell and the taste differentiate it from normal candy quite readily.

And, for the sake of playing Devil’s advocate, say this was true and there was some asshat intentionally trying to get children stoned. I would have to imagine that this would hardly be a widespread problem and no one is going to die or suffer serious harm from eating a few pot candies. Even Maureen Dowd, who went WAY overboard on her edible experiment, woke up the next day no worse for the wear.

I am in no way suggesting that Denver parents say, “Fuck it” and let their children eat anything they get, without discrimination. But I think that Halloween comes with its share of very serious dangers that should warrant parental scrutiny. Kidnappings, drunk drivers and people who treat Halloween like their own personal invitation to induce heart attacks are much more dangerous to your child than the potential weed-gummi.

Organic unmedicated lollipops by Yummy Earth.

As for the advice to just toss anything not from a candy-giant? My editor brought up an interesting point. She said that on Halloween, she buys organic candy from Whole Foods, not wanting to give children the chemical soup disguised as candy that comes from Hershey, Mars and the ilk. In places like Colorado, I would bet that there are a fair number of people who feel similarly. Are they to just throw out all this healthier candy because they are afraid? It’s nonsense.

Here’s what you do to protect your kids: be a fucking parent and pay attention to what your kid is doing and putting in their mouth. As a cannabis enthusiast and parent myself, I think that eating the processed, chemically altered “candy” is worse for them than accidentally eating an errant pot candy. As for throwing suspicious candy in the trash? Why not put it into a special “parents bowl” and have yourself a good time after the kiddos are in bed?

Sigh. The opposition may never stop trying to turn cannabis and its consumers into crazed deviants, but so long as we keep flipping the lights on and showing the world that we’re nothing to be scared of, they will eventually stop being afraid of the darkness in the closet. I hope.