Yet another dire prediction of the consequences of legal marijuana failed to materialize last weekend. Denver police caused a stir last month when they warned parents about children being given marijuana-infused edibles for Halloween. Predictably, local news outlets jumped on this to sensationalize the threat.
CBS News pointed to an arrest for marijuana edibles in Maryland as a case of police saving children from the candy being in their Halloween sacks. Their connection of the arrest and Halloween, however, was tenuous at best and ridiculously propagandist at worst. It was the news outlet, rather than the police, to blame for the misleading report. According to an AP report of the arrest, police officials said that they didn’t think the candy was intended for trick-or-treaters.
“Prince George’s police officials say they don’t think that the candy was intended to wind up in kids’ trick-or-treat bags, but authorities wanted to warn parents.” — Washington Post
The Post also pointed out the labels on many of the products saying, “Warning: Extremely potent,” and “Keep away from children.” The warnings, required by Colorado law to be on the packaging of marijuana-infused edibles, are not the only deterrent for children. One brand shown prominently is Incredibles Edibles (shown in feature image). They make chocolate bar products with different flavors and sell them legally in Colorado.
It was not a great surprise to marijuana advocates when USA Today reported that the Children’s Hospital Colorado had no children being brought in for marijuana poisoning on Halloween. With prices for each of those candy packages ranging between $10 to $20, it’s absurd for a news outlet to imply that they will end up being given to kids.
But Rick Ritter of CBS’ WJZ in Baltimore went on to write, “Parents, if your child went trick-or-treating this Halloween night, you’ll want to read this story.”
The report went on to talk about the horrors of marijuana edibles that Colorado officials have recently been espousing with little evidence. Several parents were quoted as being worried about their children trick-or-treating for fear they would be given laced candy.
Not all mainstream coverage was distorted or neutral. Christopher Ingraham wrote a much-shared article for The Washington Post‘s WonkBlog on Monday titled, “You’re more likely to catch Ebola than to receive marijuana-laced Halloween candy.” Ingraham pointed to the obvious statistic: two cases of Ebola compared with zero cases of laced candy.
In any case, the logic behind marijuana panic proved to be faulty or non-existent … again. Look for warnings from police that your Thanksgiving turkey may be marijuana-infused against your will in the near future!
