Police issue warning over ‘cannabis sweets’ before Halloween - how to spot them

A police force has urged parents and others to ‘remain vigilant’ over concerns that children could mistakenly eat cannabis-laced sweets on Halloween night.

In the run up to Halloween, police have warned people to be on the lookout for sweets which look like they’re aimed at children but actually contain cannabis.

‘Serious consequences’

The Greater Manchester Police (GMP) RochdaleTwitter account shared a picture of some cannabis ‘edibles’ with a warning to ‘remain vigilant over Halloween’.

They Tweeted: “The team have come across these packages which appear to be sweets aimed at young people. We found that they contain cannabis. This could have serious consequences on young person (sic) who may consume these. Please remain vigilant over Halloween.”

The sweets, which can come in a variety of packaging, tend to be imported from US states such as California, where they are legal.

Because they are manufactured legally in the US, their packaging looks legitimate and could be mistaken for normal sweets, though they are not designed to appeal to children.

How to spot dangerous sweets

The image of the sweets shared by GMP Rochdale shows three bags of the Gas Heads Xtremes sweets.

The packaging does show that they contain cannabis, as can be seen from the cannabis leaf symbol in the bottom left corner of the pouch.

The packaging also shows a measure of their cannabis content, which is measured in milligrams (MG), in the bottom right corner.

If you are unsure about a sweet packet that your child has brought home from Halloween, you should be able to quickly find some mention of cannabis on the packaging if they do contain it.

The warning has echoes of the once-common claim that people should look out for razor blades put inside apples on Halloween.

While this warning circulated every year around Halloween, studies have found that there has never been a proven incident of this happening.

Some have suggested that concern over cannabis sweets being intentionally given to young children is similarly over-stated.

However, there is a genuine risk of children coming across cannabis-laced sweets accidentally and mistaking them for the real thing.

Last month a 31-year-old man was given a community order at Bolton Crown Court after his young daughter found laced sweets in what looked like a normal sweet packet and ate two.

The young girl was taken to hospital but was later released without any issues.

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