While Halloween is a joyous occasion for families with costumes, photos, trick-or-treating and of course candy, parents should be aware and check their kids’ candy for THC-laced edibles.
The candy edibles have extremely similar packaging to their likened originals, down to font and color, but on edibles, the packaging has a few clear signs to look for that include slight name changes such as “Buddahfinger,” ”Munchy Way,” or “Twixed” and clearly displays a milligram dosage and reads “THC” and “Keep Out of Reach of Children.”
“This candy looks very similar to regular candy but it’s medicated so a child does not know the difference,” says Marie Paredes Saloum, owner of GreenPharms Dispensary with locations in Mesa and Flagstaff.
According to WalletHub, an estimated more than 41 million children ages five to 14 will trick-or-treat this year; 69 percent of Americans plan to give candy to trick-or-treaters and 29 percent of Americans plan to take their children trick-or-treating; and perhaps the most important fact: 83 percent of parents check their child’s candy for anything dangerous before they eat it.
Paredes Saloum says if the candy is open or not individually packaged—as a lot of edibles come in a pack and are not individually wrapped—parents should throw it away. If the candy package design is similar to regular candy, Paredes Saloum says look for keywords on the packaging that include THC infused, inspect the ingredients and verify there is no THC listed and if you see an Arizona state warning label, Paredes Saloum says it is a big red flag the candy is an edible, as they are required to include that warning on medicated products.
“The biggest thing is to make sure you read the packaging and if the candy doesn’t have packaging, toss it. Just be careful … now parents have to not just inspect the candy, now you have to read the packaging, that’s the difference nowadays from when I was growing up,” Paredes Saloum says.
However, Paredes Saloum says a few things that will give parents a little relief that their children probably won’t get any edibles in their basket is their labeled packaging and price point. Edibles can be expensive, “so I don’t see anybody wanting to splurge and give a child that kind of product.”
Don’t let candy edibles scare away the excitement of Halloween, you can have a fun-filled and safe trick-or-treating experience, just check the label before digging into all that candy.
