Candy containing "potentially lethal amounts of methamphetamine" was given out by a charity in New Zealand and police there are racing to track it all down. About 400 people received the hard-boiled sweets, which had been donated anonymously to Auckland City Mission as part of a food parcel.
Police say while the incident could be accidental rather than a targeted operation, they had not drawn any conclusions as it is "a bit early to say".
The charity alerted the authorities on Tuesday after being alerted by a recipient about the "funny tasting" sweets.
Helen Robinson, chief executive of Auckland City Mission, said that some of the charity's staff members tried the sweets themselves and agreed with the complaints, and started to "feel funny" afterwards. They then sent sweets that were still on site to the NZ Drug Foundation for tests, which confirmed that potentially lethal levels of methamphetamine were contained in the samples.
Three people reportedly "sought medical attention" but no-one is hospitalized.
Perhaps you are skeptical that that one might consume 3 grams of methamphetamine, more than 300 times the standard dose, and yet merely "feel funny" afterwards? In the form of candies that would be worth hundreds of dollars each? I fear we are in danger of besmirching the integrity or competency of the authorities.
Children being poisoned by drugged sweeties is a classic hoax so widespread that it has its own Wikipedia article. If someone was eventually going to do it for real, consider the self-fulfilling prophecy of drugged Halloween candy and the fact that this donated bag of candy has a claimed street value of nearly half a million dollars.
No cases of strangers killing or permanently injuring children this way have been proven. Commonly, the story appears in the media when a young child dies suddenly after Halloween. Medical investigations into the actual cause of death have always shown that these children did not die from eating candy
Previously:
• It's Halloween, which means local news copaganda falsely claiming drugs, poisoned candy and razor blades are handed out to kids
• The Candy Hierarchy
