Another Halloween warning is going viral across social media warning viewers of a “new type of drug” that is in the form a Gummi/Gummy Bear and causes coma, brain death or actual death.
The warning comes hot off the heels of a similar warning that claimed drug dealers were handing out ecstasy disguised as candy during the upcoming Halloween celebrations.
The warning is primarily spreading via the below graphic.
We’ll start this debunk with a similar disclaimer as our last one of this kind, and that is to say we do recommend checking a child’s Halloween candy, if not just to ensure that all treats are appropriate, clean and do not appear suspect in any way.
However if you’re worried about coma-inducing Gummi Bears turning up in your child’s bag of sweeties, you needn’t be, because just like all the other similar warnings that inevitably spread at this time of the year, this warning contains little validity.
It is in fact part of a series of fully-fledged urban legends, with countless variants spreading online and offline for many decades. And whilst readers may point to genuine cases of drug-tainted candy being distributed randomly to children on Halloween evening, these cases fall flat on their faces when pushed for details.
Gummi Bears – of course – are not always the candy quoted in the many different warnings that have spread previously. Razor blades in Toffee Apples, needles in lollies, hard candy disguised as ecstasy and a variety of other descriptions have all been given as the latest “candy to watch out for” over the years but none of these warnings have ever proved accurate.
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Regarding the images of Gummi Bears depicted in the warning above – well, one shows a vodka soaked Gummi Bear (that involves soaking the candy in vodka for up to 3 days!), one shows a vegan Gummi Bear packed in a “cocaine baggy” that was part of a placebo experiment (it contained no drugs) and the other photo dates back to 2013 and shows a Gummi Bear that was allegedly infused with hash (marijuana extract) in Ohio and was not related to Halloween whatsoever.
In none of those cases did a Gummi Bear come infused with any kind of drug that would cause coma, brain death or death, nor were any of them distributed on (or even connected to in any way) Halloween and – finally – none of them are a “new type” of drug.
Over the years there have been isolated reports of Gummy Bears being found with drugs in them, including a 2015 case in Florida where the drugs found in the candy was found to be a street drug known as Flakka – an ‘upper’ that causes euphoria and in some cases violence. However these have remained relatively isolated cases and have not been linked with Halloween either.
So once again this is just a silly warning with no basis in reality, designed to cause needless alarm. Spreading specific yet pointless warnings serves no help to anybody, and you’d be much better off imprinting your children with common sense advice about the do’s and do-not’s of Halloween.
