Halloween: Parents advised to check for cannabis-laced treats targeted at children

Police are cautioning parents to be careful of the treats that their children are given when they go trick or treating this weekend.

According to the police, there is enough intelligence pointing to children being targeted with colourful sweets laced with cannabis this Halloween.

The Zombie Drug

In a Facebook post, police in Rochdale, Greater Manchester said these cannabis-laced sweets

could have serious consequences on any young person or child who may consume these.

Upon reading the post, a local engineering student Reece Horton confirmed seeing the displayed packets of sweets and others with similar packaging all over the town.

Responding to the post, other Facebook users also expressed worry over the sweets actually being laced with spice – a much more serious synthetic form of cannabis which often paralyses users.

Known for its adverse side effects, the substance has earned the nickname ‘the zombie drug’.

Doubts

Sadly, this will not be the first time kids are being tricked into consuming drugs through what looks like innocent treats.

In May, a group of four children, between 12 and 13, had to be rushed to the emergency ward after some of them reacted violently to jelly sweets which contained cannabis.

While police believe the laced sweets in Rochdale were ‘aimed at young people’, many users intentionally buy products designed to look like candy.

However, some people say the caution is sensational, as no one would pay good money for drugs just to give them to kids. One wrote:

I doubt they are. Drugs are expensive. If they really did this then loads of adults would start trick or treating whoop whoop!

Another said:

I can’t imagine these being cheap enough to hand out to kids Willy nilly lol but hey, you should always check your kids candy anyway. Better to be safe than sorry.