For several decades, parents and children have been warned about the few crazies out there who just wait for Halloween to roll around so they can stick drugs, knives, needles and any other harmful object they can get their hands on into our kids' candy. Still, the number of actual scary stories like these that we hear each year is so low that a lot of us -- myself included -- sort of shrug them off and chalk them up to media hype.
But one 8-year-old girl in California proved this isn't all a myth when she came home from trick-or-treating with a plasticbag of methamphetamine.
Police in the town of Hercules are still investigating this insane incident and aren't yet sure if the meth was placed in her Halloween bag on purpose or by accident. About 0.1 grams of the potent and deadly drug was given to her in a small zip-top plastic bag and the girl only realized it didn't belong among her chocolate bars and lollipops when she got home and started sorting through her treasure.
Thank the lord she didn't open the bag and taste it out of curiosity. Or, perhaps mistaking it for candy, take more than a lick.
Police are urging parents to check their kids' candy before allowing them to eat it, which is something I can't imagine NOT doing, no matter how old they are. Even as a mom who tends to think stories like these are extraordinarily rare and not worth getting too excited about, I can't imagine not taking five minutes to look through the candy and throw out anything that doesn't have a sealed wrapper or that appears to have been made at home (no offense to all of those sweet grannies in my neighborhood who probably bake delish treats, but I'm not taking any chances).
More from The Stir: Kids' Halloween Candy Scare: Why Cops Are Issuing Warnings About Drugs
Will our kids receive pot brownies and LSD-laden Jolly Ranchers? Probably not. But it takes almost no effort or time out of our days to check their candy -- just in case.
Do you check your children's Halloween candy? Does this story concern you?
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