No One Is Giving Your Kids Marijuana Edibles in Their Halloween Candy

It’s Halloween season, which means it’s time for your local news outlets to once again warn viewers about a virtually non-existent threat: the notion that there are large groups of insidious people just waiting to give your trick-or-treating children free cannabis edibles. This is one of those marijuana myths that keeps coming back from the dead every time the pumpkins start popping up on your neighbors’ doorsteps.

No one is knowingly giving out edibles to children as Halloween candy. First, doing so would be grossly irresponsible. NORML’s longstanding ‘Principles of Responsible Cannabis Use’ specify that cannabis is for “adults only” and that consumers “do not violate the rights of others.” Second, it would be cost-prohibitive. Regulated cannabis products cost exponentially more than traditional candy. Third, doing so exposes would-be pranksters to serious criminal penalties, as distributing cannabis to minors is a felony offense in almost all circumstances. Fourth, legal state-regulated cannabis products are subject to strict packaging laws that make them readily distinguishable from traditional candy, as well as from irresponsibly packaged unregulated products. For these reasons, there are few, if any, reports of this happening in the real world, only in the minds of ratings-crazed newsrooms and fear-mongering prohibitionists.

There will always be a very small number of people with malicious intentions and, as a result, parents should always check their kids’ Halloween haul to ensure that their treats are safe and appropriate. That goes without saying. But there’s no data to support the unfounded claims that the statewide regulation of either adult-use or medical-use cannabis products is unduly putting children’s safety at risk — not on Halloween or any other day of the year. In fact, over the past decade, marijuana use by teens has fallen to historic lows.

Writing for NBC News, journalist Simon Moyer-Smith said it best:

“Halloween, of course, is a time of fear: ghouls, goblins, haunted houses and the sheer volume of leftover candy that will be around to tempt you. But it’s not a time to stoke fear about things that aren’t based in evidence and truth — and definitely not a time to demonize marijuana yet again.

… No one, absolutely no one, will be handing out marijuana edibles en masse to unsuspecting minors this Halloween. … If you want to be scared of something on Halloween night, it shouldn’t be edibles in your kid’s treat bag but drunken drivers on the road.

… So fear demons, drunk drivers and Dum Dums, but there’s no need to worry that edibles will be given out willy-nilly to trick-or-treaters on Halloween.”

So go ahead NORML Nation, have a fun, safe, and evidence-based Halloween – and of course, enjoy your edibles responsibly and keep them safely out of the hands of children.