Tag: moral panics

Meth-Laced Halloween Candy Is a Very Unlikely Danger for Kids

It’s beginning to feel a lot like Halloween now that the news media is reporting on its favorite seasonal story: allegedly drug-laced candy.

In Rosarito, Baja California, a toddler ate a Riesen—no relation to this magazine—and began to cry “uncontrollably,” according to KRQE.com. The girl’s mom worried and provided her with some “home remedies” to help her feel better.

When that didn’t work, she brought the 18-month-old to the hospital. The folks there determined the little girl had ingested methamphetamine. The police proceeded to question the mom, who said she didn’t know where the candy—which is being kept as evidence—came from.

This leaves us with some questions, notably: How is the candy being “kept as evidence” if it was eaten?

Also, is there just the slightest possibility that the aforementioned “home remedies” might have included ingredients that are themselves the building blocks of methamphetamine?

And finally, why does the news media feel compelled to report on these one-off events, as if they demonstrate a trend? The dangers of drug-laced Halloween candy are remote to nonexistent. Trust me: No one has ever poisoned a stranger’s kid with Halloween candy.

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New York Officials Debunk ‘Misinformation’ About Fentanyl-Laced Marijuana

New York marijuana regulators are working to debunk what they say is the “false” narrative that cannabis is commonly contaminated with fentanyl—a “misconception” that remains “widespread” despite a lack of evidence.

The state Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) recently put out a factsheet on the issue, acknowledging that while fentanyl has been found in drugs like MDMA and heroin, anecdotal claims about marijuana laced with the potent opioid are so far unfounded.

OCM published the two-page document—titled “Cannabis and Fentanyl: Facts and Unknowns”—to “address misconceptions about cannabis being mixed with fentanyl,” it said. “The goal of this fact sheet is to provide evidence where it is available, to share information about what is currently known and unknown, and to provide safety tips to help alleviate some of these misconceptions, often spread through misinformed media coverage and anecdotal reporting.”

“Misinformation related to the danger of accidental overdose due to cannabis ‘contaminated’ with fentanyl remains widespread,” the office said. “Anecdotal reports of fentanyl ‘contaminated’ cannabis continue to be found to be false, as of the date of this publication” last week.

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Why Halloween’s ‘Poison Candy’ Myth Endures

IN THE FALL OF 1982, an unfounded fear haunted almost every house in Chicago. As area children prepared to “trick” their neighbors with their impressions of werewolves, vampires, and zombies, their parents were much more terrified of the “treats” their kids were eager to devour.

Candy was a potential murder weapon. Apples might contain carefully concealed razor blades. Twizzlers might be laced with rat or ant poison. Mayor of Chicago Jane Byrne urged extreme caution and vigilance on Halloween, adding that if she had children, she would not allow them to accept any food items.

As the fear crept across the nation, towns nowhere near Chicago began to sound the alarm. In Trenton, governor of New Jersey Thomas Kean signed a bill imposing a mandatory six-month jail sentence on anyone convicted of handing out contaminated Halloween candy. In Vineland, a southern New Jersey city, Mayor Patrick Fiorilli imposed an outright ban on trick-or-treating, noting “what an opportunity this was for some nut to do something.” Local hospitals offered to X-ray children’s Halloween candy hauls.

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A Profile of “Misinformation Expert” Brandy Zadrozny

In early February 2023, NBC News Senior Reporter Brandy Zadrozny contacted me to see if I was available to discuss my reporting on the ongoing Utah County Sheriff’s Office (UCSO) investigation into “ritualized child sexual abuse”. Mrs. Zadrozny is known as NBC’s “Misinformation Expert” and regularly reports on what she calls conspiracy theories.

I had been following the Utah investigation since summer 2022 and was one of the few journalists who approached the story with the respect it deserves. In short, in May 2022 the UCSO announced their investigation into child abuse. This announcement was quickly followed up by a press conference from Utah County Attorney David Leavitt where he claimed that he was potentially a target of the Sheriff’s investigation and wanted to make it clear that he and his wife were “not cannibals” or “child abusers”.

In September 2022, the UCSO arrested former therapist David Hamblin, who had been accused of abusing his own daughters as far back as 1999. Charges were brought against Hamblin in 2012 but were dropped in 2014 after prosecutors said they struggled to gain access to evidence they needed. It is in the 2012 case against Hamblin where his alleged victims also accuse David Leavitt of being involved in sexual abuse.

Hamblin is not currently being charged for the same alleged crimes in the 2012 case, but rather new charges brought about by former patients. In September of this year the USCO also arrested Hamblin’s ex-wife Roselle “Rosie” Anderson Stevenson on one count of sodomy on a child, for an offense against a girl under age 13.

In pursuit of the Hamblin story I have written 8 articles exploring the Sheriff’s investigation, as well as claims of sexual abuse throughout Utah’s history and within the Church of Latter day Saints, also known as the Mormon Church.

When Zadrozny first reached out she said she was working on a “project about the David Hamblin case” and was not clear “what form this project will take”. She said she had seen my coverage of the Hamblin case and the allegations against him from the 2012 case. “Frankly, to experts I’ve spoken with, the allegations resemble those from the 1980’s “Satanic Panic” era. I’d be interested in hearing your perspective,” she wrote.

The mention of the “Satanic Panic” was not surprising given Zadrozny’s previous reporting on the David Hamblin case. I dissected Zadrozny’s one article on David Hamblin in my September 2022 piece, Are the Children Lying? Re-Examining the Satanic Panic. Zadrozny attempts to frame the UCSO investigation as a symptom of ongoing Qanon fantasies. She claims Qanon conspiracies are a part of the revival of what has often been deemed the “Satanic Panic”, a period in the 1980’s and 90’s when people around the world began reporting instances of sexual abuse and murder of children involving rituals performed by cults often labeled “satanic”.

Zadrozny’s entire reporting is predicated on the idea that during the “satanic’ or “moral panic” conservative and religious folk around the world bought into a mass hysteria where parents and children made up claims about participating in, or being victim of, ritual abuse by organized cults. The perpetrators and the cults they allegedly work with were often labeled Satanic. Whether or not the various cults and individuals were actually practicing worship of an entity called Satan is debatable, but the fact is that hundreds of reports were made across Europe, Australia, and the United States throughout the 1980’s and 90’s.

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Rishi Sunak unveils crackdown on ‘worrying’ child vaping epidemic and announces kids aged 14 and under will NEVER be able to buy cigarettes under new ban

Rishi Sunak today unveiled bold plans to stamp out the child vaping epidemic and ban kids aged 14 and under from ever legally being able to buy cigarettes. 

The proposed law will annually raise the age of legal purchase of tobacco from the current 18 by one additional year every 12 months.

It will see England follow in the footsteps of New Zealand, which last year adopted the same policy for everyone born after 2009. Under the Prime Minister’s proposed plan, the Government will stick to the same age threshold.

Thinktanks and smoking rights groups reacted with anger to the ban, labelling it as ‘hideously illiberal and unconservative’.

However, health groups and cancer charities lauded the announcement and said it would save thousands of lives from cancer.  

The PM also announced a crackdown on vaping amongst children promising to look at banning child-friendly flavours and packaging that encourage kids to pick up the habit. Disposable devices are also in the firing line.

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Cops and Reporters Are Still Hyping the Halloween Threat Posed by Strangers With Cannabis Candy

It’s October, which means it is time for alarmist cops and credulous reporters to start warning parents about the purported menace of cannabis edibles in trick-or-treat bags. KSNT, the NBC affiliate in Topeka, Kansas, got a jump on that annual rite last month, when it amplified a “community advisory” from the St. Mary’s Police Department about “THC-infused gummies and snacks marketed to children ahead of the holidays.”

That framing is misleading in at least two ways. First, it assumes that producers of marijuana edibles that resemble popular candy brands are targeting children, who cannot legally buy such products even in states where adults can, as opposed to nostalgic grownups with a sweet tooth. Second, it implies that nefarious adults are apt to distribute THC treats on Halloween, requiring extra vigilance by parents who already worry about the danger allegedly posed by needles, glass shards, or poison that might be lurking in their kids’ candy hauls.

The KSNT story features a photograph of cannabis candy made in California, where medical marijuana was legalized in 1996, followed by recreational marijuana in 2016. At a glance, the package looks a lot like cherry-flavored Airheads Xtremes, a blatant trademark violation that surely is cause for concern at Perfetti Van Melle, which makes the genuine article. But the package carries several clues that the product is not intended for children. The front includes a “medicated candy” descriptor, along with a state-mandated cannabis label and a statement of THC content. A label on the back warns: “Contains Cannabis, A Schedule I Controlled Substance. Keep out of Reach of Children.”

KSNT nevertheless describes the product as “disguised THC candies.” Citing police, it says “the THC edibles are very dangerous in the hands of children and are disguised as popular brands such as Air Heads, Fruit Gushers, Sour Skittles, Sour Patch Kids, Buzzy Peaches and Cherry Blasters.” The implication is that the manufacturers want to trick kids into getting high, although it’s not clear why that would be a sensible business strategy. And while the reference to “the holidays” implies that the risk of dangerous confusion is especially acute around Halloween, the article cites no evidence to support that premise.

That’s par for the course with Halloween-related warnings about cannabis edibles, which police departments and news outlets have been issuing for many years despite a dearth of actual incidents involving malicious distribution of such products to children. “Doctors are warning about the risks of dangerous drugs being mistaken for candy,” WLS, the ABC affiliate in Chicago, reported last year. “Those incidents increase around Halloween, especially now with some drugs looking more and more like colorful treats.”

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Despite Debunking, Rainbow Fentanyl Myths Continue

In 2022, fears erupted over “rainbow fentanyl,” brightly colored fentanyl pills that were said to be designed by drug traffickers to lure innocent children into taking opioids. Parents were warned to be on the watch for the pills—especially in their children’s Halloween candy stash.

A warning from the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) released last August warned that the increasing presence of brightly colored pills “appears to be a new method used by drug cartels to sell highly addictive and potentially deadly fentanyl made to look like candy to children and young people.”

“Rainbow fentanyl—fentanyl pills and powder that come in a variety of bright colors, shapes, and sizes—is a deliberate effort by drug traffickers to drive addiction amongst kids and young adults,” added DEA Administrator Anne Milgram.

However, it was startlingly easy to debunk panic over rainbow fentanyl. As it turns out, drug dealers have plenty of willing adult customers. So why would these they try to lure children, a customer base with no money of their own? And why would dealers give away valuable stock to do so?

“I’m skeptical that [dealers] would try to target children where there is not an existing market,” Sally Satel, an addiction psychiatrist and resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, told Reason‘s Lenore Skenazy in 2022. Considering the high risk of overdose in children, Satel added that “few would survive and come back for more.”

Just as there are adult reasons for vape companies to sell flavored vape pods, which were the subject of another panic, there are adult reasons for dealers to color their fentanyl—namely, to “brand [their] stuff.”

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Washington U. Prof: AI Girlfriends Are Ruining a Generation of Men

The rise of AI girlfriends is ruining an entire generation of young men by fostering a silent epidemic of loneliness, according to Washington University Professor of Data Science Liberty Vittert.

There are now apps that offer virtual girlfriends for men who want an AI lover to talk to them, allow them to live out their sexual fantasies, and learn, through data, exactly what they like, according to a op-ed written by Washington U. professor Liberty Vittert and published by the Hill.

These apps reportedly have millions of users, who are able to choose the physical attributes and personalities of their virtual girlfriends.

Some of the artificial lovers are even based on real people. One online influencer, for example, created an AI bot of herself and gained over 1,000 users in less than a week. She believes the AI girlfriend version of herself can generate $5 million a month.

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Texas Dept. of Health and Human Services Refuses to Answer Questions About Anti-Porn Law’s Mandatory ‘Warnings’

The Texas Department of Health and Human Services has declined to confirm or deny whether the “health warnings” mandated by the state’s recent anti-porn age verification law are supported by any official documentation or statement produced by that office.

As XBIZ reported, the Republican-authored HB 1181 was passed by the Texas legislature with bipartisan support in May and will go into effect September 1.

The new Texas age verification law — part of a state-by-state campaign by religious conservatives and anti-porn activists to outlaw all sexual material online — compels adult websites to post pseudoscientific anti-porn propaganda disclaimers declaring that “pornography is potentially biologically addictive, is proven to harm human brain development, desensitizes brain reward circuits, increases conditioned responses and weakens brain function.”

HB 1181 is a much-augmented version of Louisiana’s age verification law and its many copycats, and echoes the debunked “porn addiction” language of faith-based anti-porn groups.

XBIZ asked the Press Office of the Texas Department of Health and Human Services if the department could provide any documentation or statement pertaining to those warnings, and clarify whether the language of the warnings has its basis in any documentation or statement produced by the Texas Department of Health and Human Services.

After requesting several days to provide a reply to the query, Press Officer Tiffany Young declined to answer, deflecting the questions with an invitation to contact “the authors of this bill for information about how it originated.”

XBIZ also contacted Texas Department of Health and Human Services Chief of Staff Kate Hendrix and the bill’s main sponsor, Rep. Matt Shaheen (R), but received no reply to the same questions.

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Southwest Airlines Falsely Accuses Mom of Trafficking Biracial Daughter

A woman is suing Southwest Airlines after flight staff accused her of trafficking her child. Mary MacCarthy was flying with her 10-year-old daughter, “MM,” in 2021 when Southwest Airlines staff called the Denver Police Department and reported her as a suspected child trafficker.

MacCarthy is white, and her daughter is biracial. In a lawsuit against Southwest, MacCarthy alleges that she was suspected of trafficking her own daughter “for no reason other than the different color of her daughter’s skin from her own.”

“There was no basis to believe that Ms. MacCarthy was trafficking her daughter,” states the complaint, filed August 3 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, “and the only basis for the Southwest employee’s call was the belief that Ms. MacCarthy’s
daughter could not possibly be her daughter because she is a biracial child.”

MacCarthy and her daughter wouldn’t be the first multiracial family to find themselves facing human trafficking allegations at the airport. We keep hearing about flying families or couples falsely accused of being involved in trafficking because they don’t appear to be the same race or ethnicity.

It’s happened with interracial couples and with parents of mixed-race or adopted children. Cindy McCain, wife of the late Sen. John McCain, infamously fabricated catching a child trafficker when she reported to police a woman traveling with a child who was “a different ethnicity” from her.

This situation isn’t occurring in a vacuum. It comes amidst a decades-long moral panic about sex trafficking generally and child sex trafficking in particular. The panic has taken many forms, including the Department of Homeland Security encouraging War on Terror–style citizen surveillance campaigns (“if you see something, say something”) to stop trafficking; states requiring airports to post human trafficking hotline numbers and awareness signs; and government-sponsored programs to train airline and airport staff to spot alleged signs of trafficking.

Most of the “signs” these people are trained to spot are nonsense—impossibly vague or broad. For instance, Airline Ambassadors International trains airline and airport staff (using a training program approved by Homeland Security) to keep an eye on “children, those who accompany them, and young women traveling alone” and people who seem “nervous.” Training materials also tend to tell people to go with their gut instincts. Unsurprisingly, this leads to a lot of racial profiling, with ill-informed instincts about what a family “should” look like coming into play.

The wider campaign to “stop sex trafficking” via vigilance on airplanes and at airports is itself based on the faulty idea that human trafficking (a category that includes both labor trafficking and sex trafficking) is mostly done by brazen cabals of international traffickers ushering victims into the U.S. and Americans victims out, or shipping victims around the country. But in the U.S., labor trafficking tends to be concentrated in specific industries and to involve various forms of worker exploitation more than the covert importation of human beings. And in the sex trades, exploitation tends to take place at a much smaller scale, with individuals or small groups—often people the victim knows—perpetuating it. It also tends to take place in the communities people live in or with victims and traffickers traveling by car, not using commercial airlines.

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