Five-year-old Missouri gets Delta 8 edibles in Halloween bag

Law enforcement in the St. Louis suburbs are looking for leads after a five-year-old boy ended up selling Delta 8 edibles at a local Halloween event.

The St. Charles, Missouri Police Department said it received “a single report of a parent discovering a small bag of Delta 88s [sic] Edibles that resemble gummy worms” at a “Trunk or Treat” event on Saturday.

The child’s mother, Tiffany Burroughs, offered her side of the story in an interview with local media. Burroughs has three sons, ages one, two and five.

“They loved to go there and dress in their costumes,” Burroughs told local news station KMOV.

It wasn’t until Burroughs and her boys returned home that she noticed something in the candy loot that seemed a bit off.

“I remembered that as we walked in the door, and I was like, ‘Oh yeah, let me see that.’ I watched it and I was like, ‘Oh yeah, this is definitely not for kids,'” she told the network.

The station reported that Burroughs notified both local police and the restaurant, JJ’s Restaurant, where the Halloween event was taking place.

Stephen Bell, the co-owner of JJ’s, says he couldn’t find any other contraband on the premises.

“Me and the manager and the other owner walked around the property. I mean we went through all the candy and didn’t find anything,” Bell told the broadcaster.

On Saturday, the St. Charles Police Department posted an announcement on Facebook urging anyone attending the event to “check your child’s candy.”

But like Bell, the cops say they haven’t been able to locate the source.

“Officials searched the area thoroughly and found no one handing out this item. We are investigating how this happened,” the police department said in the social media post.

Lt. Tom Wilkison of the St. Charles Police Department told KMOV that he and his colleagues attributed the matter to a simple accident.

“We do not believe at this point that there was any malicious intent. That these gummy worms were somehow mixed with candy because they look like candy,” Wilkison told the broadcaster.

The Halloween season always brings with it fears that cannabis-infused edibles might end up in a youngster’s trick-or-treating bag.

Last October, several attorneys general warned about children unknowingly eating a tainted jelly bean.

“These cannabis products that look alike are unregulated, unsafe and illegal,” Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said at the time. “Accidental cannabis overdoses by children are on the rise nationwide, and these products will only make it worse.”

New York Attorney General Letitia James urged “parents across the state to remain vigilant about the online sale of these dangerous and deceptive products.”

“These unregulated and misleading cannabis products will only confuse and hurt New Yorkers, which is why they have no place in our state,” James said. “It is important that we limit their access to protect our communities and our children in particular. With the rise in accidental overdoses in children across the country, it’s more important than ever that we do everything we can to contain this crisis and prevent further harm, or worse, death. My office is committed to preventing the sale of these products and protecting the well-being of all New Yorkers. I urge everyone to remain vigilant about these products and to report these harmful items to my office immediately.”

But many of these warnings have proven to be exaggerated – if not unfounded. In May, New York local broadcaster WGRZ reported that James’ office received only one complaint about fraudulent cannabis packaging.