Despite panicked headlines to the contrary, no amount of “rainbow fentanyl” found its way into an unsuspecting child’s Halloween treats this year. Turns out, people are not randomly mixing highly expensive drugs in with candy and then accidentally giving them to trick or treat-ers because we mentioned highly expensive, right? Like previous scare campaigns about THC candy accidentally making its way along side a bat-shaped Reese’s cup, the rainbow fentanyl thing never made sense, and now, the evidence is overwhelming.
Via Vice:
In response to a VICE News inquiry about whether there had been any incidents of kids being unintentionally exposed to fentanyl on or around Halloween, a DEA spokesperson sent previous statements and press releases, including a comment from the DEA’s administrator saying, “We’ve seen nothing that indicates that this is going to be related to Halloween.”
Other police agencies went so far as to issue statements debunking rumors and making it extra clear nothing nefarious happened with Halloween candy.
As sociology professor Joel Best told PBS in October, shadowy cartels have absolutely nothing to gain by randomly putting fentanyl in kids’ candy. As a business practice, it makes zero sense. None.
“If you give a dose of fentanyl to kids in elementary school, you have an excellent chance of killing them,” Best said. “If you do addict them, what are you going to do, try to take their lunch money? No one is trying to addict little kids to fentanyl.”
Of course, that fact should’ve been obvious, and yet, it didn’t stop media figures like Joe Rogan from spreading misinformation. The dude even got fact-checked on the air and still continued to agree with Dr. Phil that parents shouldn’t trust any candy that they didn’t buy themselves from the store. Rogan is giving Alex Jones a run for his money in not being able to resist every conspiracy theory that lands on his plate.
(Via Vice)