Debunking the Weed Halloween Candy Myth
Halloween is a time for over-the-top to lean into the spooky and ghastly. As temperatures drop and the days get shorter, we may become a little more receptive to scary headlines and assume the worst. And despite decades of activism, with over 25 years of legal access, cannabis is still portrayed as a bogeyman.
Earlier this month, a story from St. Charles, Missouri, warned of Delta 8 candy being found in a child’s Halloween candy bag from a local event at a restaurant. A similar report recently came from northern Nevada police and was posted on the most fearsome social media platform, Facebook.
But even our most liberal communities fall prey to rumor. As the Halloween season rolled around while growing up in the Bay Area, Kristi Palmer, co-founder of Kiva Confections, heard the same startled whispers from her parents and family friends: Watch out, your candy may contain drugs or razor blades!
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“Where I grew up, it was alive and well — the myth that your parents had to go through your candy and make sure it was safe for you to eat. It sounds so ridiculous when you say it out loud,” she tells Leafly, especially when those in the regulated market know that “you don’t have to get anyone to use a cannabis product. As a brand that wants to have longevity in the cannabis industry, this is a great way to get yourself into trouble on so many different fronts.”
Years later, such warnings are still making the rounds as the holiday season begins. Rumors on social media, police press releases and local media have created an annual cycle of Halloween hysteria that paints a simple stroll through the neighborhood asking for Twix bars and candy corn at a battlefield where children fall victim to tainted treats can fall. tricks indeed.
But year after year, children come home without an edible or hypodermic needle, and the headlines die down as soon as editors realize there was nothing to worry about at all.
So why does the fear persist? According to experts Leafly spoke to, the answer is a bit tricky.
A Brief History of Halloween Sadism
Halloween as a holiday has deep roots in pre-Christian Celtic traditions, namely the festival of Samhain, which celebrated the chiaroscuro of the transition to the “dark half” of the year. But it didn’t become America’s “Halloween” until the 20th century, and trick-or-treating was hardly a national pastime until around World War II.
Joel Best, a sociologist at the University of Delaware, has been studying this phenomenon for almost 40 years – he calls it “Halloween sadism”. His data includes regularly scouring local media for stories and verified cases of spoiled candy-related damage or even deaths, involving not only cannabis but also heroin, razorblades and cyanide. He updates it annually through the University of Delaware Library.
“Halloween sadism is the belief that there are people who tamper with Halloween treats. I’m not a big horror fan, but I think Halloween is supposed to be scary. Most of us have stopped believing in ghosts, so we believe in criminals.”
Joel Best, University of Delaware professor and researcher on Halloween sadism
He says these narratives largely emerged alongside the War on Drugs. Best grew up in the 1950s and says these concerns escalated with the national anti-controlled substances agenda. A story in the New York Times in 1970 appears to be the prelude, predating Nixon’s infamous 1971 press conference that made drugs “public enemy number one.” Its data goes back to 1958. He tells Leafly that he has an average of 0 to 3 paranoia stories a year.
But even these stories do not stand up to closer scrutiny. They are self-reported or later exposed as scams or false blame. Ronald Clark O’Bryan, also known as “The Candy Man” and “The Man Who Killed Halloween,” poisoned his son with cyanide-laced Pixy Stix in 1974 to get insurance money. He first claimed at the time it was collected while trick-or-treating.
In an episode of The Roll-up podcast last year, Leafly talked about a small handful of human monsters using candy to do damage, averaging one every decade. None of them used cannabis.
Best has also noted that rumors of spoiled Halloween candy are increasing in the weeks leading up to the spooky holiday with a big new event. For example, the 1982 Tylenol recall was issued on October 5th. Decades later, the fear surrounding 9/11 fueled the flames of fear.
The same is true for cannabis in recent years. Best is noting a trend related to the start of recreational cannabis sales in Colorado and Washington. A similar scrutiny emerged in 2019 with the outbreak of EVALI-tainted illegal e-cigarette cartridges.
“If there is a big thriller in September, there are stories. In 2014, the first year there were dispensaries in Colorado, the Denver Police Department released a YouTube video about THC gummy bears. Someone checked the reports and there were none. In 2019, there were stories of people dying from black market vape canisters. Pennsylvania police found some commercial THC candy when it wasn’t legal in PA…there has been a lot of talk of tying these deaths to THC candy on Halloween.”
But those reports aren’t rooted in fact and evidence, Best says.
How you can help dispel the myth
Despite a growing body of evidence, these tales recur yearly. Though the tides seem to be changing. Best has noted that many publications now publish articles that deconstruct the myth, as we do now, rather than legitimize it. Cannabis legislation and education have also helped allay fears, and new threats like opioids have overtaken weed.
“The concern about THC candy is so 2019,” he says, laughing. “While he has yet to update his Halloween sadism document with the 2022 findings, he does point to fentanyl, specifically the ‘rainbow fentanyl’ craze, as the new big bad. But even then, many literally roll their eyes. “It’s not a particular threat like every year. It fizzles out because there is never anything to report.”
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And lest we forget, we live in a country in love with capitalism and the lure of profit. Edible manufacturing, even illegal ones, requires thousands of dollars worth of raw materials and equipment to make it work. Edibles in pharmacies typically cost $20 to $30. Edibles fortified with Delta-8 have comparable prices. The risk involved, let alone the fact that children don’t carry cash, makes targeting children with unregulated goods a ridiculous business decision.
For Palmer, she believes the conspiracy killing begins in your own home; She has heard from other parents in the legal cannabis industry that they struggle to raise the issue with their children. She has two young children of her own and has started talking to her young daughter about what cannabis is and how to avoid it.
The key is to avoid falling into a good-bad dichotomy, where cannabis has to be scary for kids to avoid. And she’s a big advocate for safekeeping; Your child is far more likely to find your stash than a stranger or dealer. Just as you lock the liquor cabinet, store your edibles in their child-resistant containers and keep them out of reach.
“I tried to convey that [my daughter] less about what [cannabis] is and more on how to identify it. Because I think she’s so small, she won’t really understand what the impact would be – that conversation comes later. It’s really important when you’re talking to children, of all ages, really. I try to give her the facts and what I know to be true without interpretation. I am not making up a story or judging cannabis. I am not naïve to the fact that she will be experimenting with cannabis probably before she is 21.”
Sadly, Best doesn’t see the trend abating anytime soon, especially if self-elected officials continue to perpetuate myths. But with the midterm elections coming soon after Halloween, cannabis is everywhere. We assume, Leafly Nation, that this story is not new to you and you have dismissed it. Once the candy bars are devoured, however, it’s time to get your ballot where your mouth is.
Amelie Williams
New York-based freelance cannabis journalist Amelia Williams is a graduate of San Francisco State University’s journalism program and a former budtender. Williams has contributed to GreenState, MG Magazine, Culture Magazine and Cannabis Now, Kirkus Reviews and The Bold Italic of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Check out Amelia Williams’ articles
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