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Halloween Warning - Candy-Flavored Meth
Description: Email flier Summary: Circulating via email, a 'Halloween Warning' urges parents to instruct their children to beware of a new form of crystal meth that looks and smells like strawberry Pop Rocks candy and comes in other flavors such as chocolate, peanut butter, and cola.
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I contacted Special Agent Todd V. Coleman of Homeland Security, whose signature appears on the message, and asked him if he authored it. He said no. Like everyone else, he said, he received it as a forwarded message and made the mistake of passing to a colleague for verification. Once sent, it was "forwarded a million times over and posted on MySpace with my info attached to it," Coleman wrote. He added that he had since received "intel" to the effect that it isn't really true. It isn't entirely false, either. We have seen similar warnings before. Beginning in January 2007, drug enforcement officers in various parts of the U.S. began reporting sightings of pink, strawberry-flavored crystal meth during routine drug busts. Despite some initial skepticism, the Dept. of Justice confirmed the existence of the new product in a Drug Marketing Analysis for northern California pubished in June: To increase their customer base, Mexican DTOs [drug trafficing organizations] began a new technique for marketing methamphetamine that is directed toward younger users by adding flavoring and coloring to the drug. This form of methamphetamine first emerged in Contra Costa County in 2007. A real threat to children? Opinions vary on how great a danger "Strawberry Quick," as it is called, actually poses to young children. "It's more speculative than real at this point," DEA spokesman Bernie Hobson told the Twin Falls, ID Times-News when asked if drug dealers are actually targeting children with the flavored drug. But he didn't discount the idea, either. Others, such as Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa, consider the threat both imminent and heinous. "Meth producers are now offering candy flavored meth to young people," he said in a Missouri Valley Times op-ed interview. "In response, I've introduced the Saving Kids from Dangerous Drugs Act. This legislation would triple the federal penalties for drug dealers who flavor or disguise illegal drugs to make them more appealing to people under age 21." It seems a stretch to imagine that these drugs will somehow end up in children's trick-or-treat bags, however. Even if we grant that dealers are hawking flavored meth to young people to expand their clientele, what would they have to gain by handing it out under the pretense that it actually is candy? Eating the stuff would cause an overdose, and possibly death -- if you're a drug dealer, not a good way to increase your market share. The key word is 'prudence' It's not beyond the realm of possibility that the candy-like product could end up accidentally in the hands of an unsuspecting child, but that doesn't seem terribly likely, either. Contrary to what is claimed in the email, I have not found a single report to date confirming that "Kids are ingesting this thinking it is candy and being rushed off to the ER in dire condition." To ratchet this down from the extreme level of fear-mongering we are now being subjected to, perhaps parents can take it as a reminder that it simply makes good, prudent sense in this day and age to supervise their children's Halloween activities and inspect the contents of their trick-or-treat bags. Experience has shown that the odds are overwhelmingly against finding anything untoward there, but who wouldn't rather be safe than sorry?
Last updated: 10/25/07 |
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