Halloween is originally a Celtic end of harvest festival. The evolution of it’s customs such as trick-or-treating, happened mostly in the United States. However in recent years due to us living in the cultural shadow of the US, the event became increasingly commercialised and promoted in South Africa too.

Along with its popularity came the perfect opportunity for prohibitionists and sensationalist media to create the misconception that evil stoners everywhere are tricking and treating kids with Cannabis edibles. 

This year in the US, in the days before Halloween, several news outlets issued warnings to parents to check their kids’ candy for Cannabis, thereby perpetuating the myth that this commonly happens. Just because it CAN happen, does not mean it does.

There is no evidence to show that children’ s lives are being put at risk by the availability of edible Cannabis products. Even if this was true, Cannabis has zero lethal toxicity in humans. There are few to no reports of laced candy being handed to kids. This alone makes the myth absurd! Of course the myth is spreading like wildfire locally too, with perfectly timed reporting on the Motherwell woman that got caught with R50K worth of edibles allegedly intended for children, just because Brig Asogran Naidoo said so. There is zero evidence of this allegation, but sadly the Eastern Cape Herald jumped to use the ‘minors under threat’ angle. This clearly shows the toxic relationship between the SAPS and the media, spreading misinformation to make themselves look relevant.

Nobody would be handing out (generally expensive) edibles to kids just for a prank, or even more far-fetched, to hook them (why??). Doing so just does not make sense (Cannabis is not physically addictive), unless the prankster is truly mad. 

It is important to only buy clearly marked infused edibles. Look for dosage strength and also the Global Standard for Safety symbol (yellow triangle with black Cannabis leaf). Proper regulation and packaging could reduce the risk of children ingesting edibles

The bottom line is that nobody is safe until Cannabis is properly regulated and trade is legal. My personal opinion is that parents are responsible for their children’s safety and that you cannot blame the dagga just like you cannot blame teenage drinking on alcohol. Harm predominantly lies in lack of human oversight and absence of evidence based regulations, not in substances themselves.