Parents are concerned, yet the threat is virtually non-existent. Each year, local police departments issue warnings to parents about potentially tainted Halloween candy. Apparently, the threat is no longer razor blades and needles slipped into candy, but THC-laced candy since recreational marijuana is legalized in 11 states (and Washington, D.C.). Although a child eating marijuana edibles would not be a good thing, parents need not worry: No one is going to give your kid any on Halloween.
Think about it from the perspective of the person handing out the candy. What is the upside to it? Yes, there are bad people in the world, but handing out marijuana candy would not only be against the law (recreational marijuana is not legal for minors) but incredibly expensive.
According to 707Deliveries, a recreational marijuana shop in California, a full-sized chocolate bar with 100 milligrams of THC would cost $20. Meanwhile, five small gummy pieces and five small pieces of hard candy, totaling 50 milligrams of THC, would cost $10. Those small gummies and hard candies might not be enough candy to fill out a typical Halloween goodie bag.
Now consider how much the average consumer spends on Halloween candy: about $25.
In a busy neighborhood, if a house got 50 trick or treaters, handing out full-sized name-brand candy bars from Walmart would cost around $30. It would cost $1,000 to do the same with marijuana chocolate bars — which look nothing like a Hershey bar or a Snickers bar. When the average household has $8,863 combined in their savings accounts, that is not a great use of funds.
People do make their own homemade THC candy. While that could be cheaper than getting it from a dispensary, that takes time and effort and is still not free.
There’s also no track record of people giving out tainted candy to children of strangers. Look up results for people being arrested for handing out THC-laced candy on Halloween, and no real-world cases will come up. Although some children might not know what THC or marijuana is, the candy would not taste the same with the added ingredient. Children do share Halloween candy with their parents, who would probably recognize from the candy wrapper if something wasn’t right.
Parents and children should absolutely be careful of the candy and food they obtain on Halloween, but the “threat” of marijuana candy shouldn’t damper anyone’s spirits. Avoiding unwrapped or previously opened candy is a safe idea, as is having parents check their children’s candy before the child consumes it.
If any parents are looking to snag their child’s weed-infused gummies, they’ll be disappointed.
Tom Joyce (@TomJoyceSports) is a freelance writer who has been published with USA Today, the Boston Globe, Newsday, ESPN, the Detroit Free Press, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Federalist, and a number of other media outlets.
