😰 Made to Stick: Fear Mongering in Cannabis

When I was growing up in the suburbs of Los Angeles, my parents had a few candy ground rules during Halloween:

First of all, of course I wouldn’t accept an apple. I was there to fill a pillow case with as much Starburst and Twix as humanly possible; this was no time for produce.

Secondly, this was not an uncommon parental warning. Starting in the 70s and stretching into the 00s, each Halloween season was full of sensational headlines and frenzied PTA meetings about evil people tampering with Halloween candy, with the specific intent of harming children. The most vivid story, and the ones my parents were reacting to, was that murderous individuals were concealing razorblades in apples, then handing them out during trick-or-treating.

This narrative surfaced every year - it was like clockwork.

The funny thing, though, is that there was never a single confirmed case of this happening. Ever. 

Like, not one. It was fully and absolutely made up. So why did this urban legend capture our attention so completely?

A few reasons (and yes, I’m borrowing from Made to Stick, though I am taking some liberties):

1. It’s simple and profound (e.g. it’s easy to remember)

2. It’s emotional (won’t someone think of the children!)

3. It uses concrete imagery (I bet you imagined the razorblade and how it would fit into the apple, huh?)

💡 Cannabis urban legends are also sticky

Cannabis has been demonized for a century. It’s exhausting. And it isn’t letting up, in particular when illicit market producers copycat household names:

The illegally-produced products above have been popping up in certain markets, and they are striking, because they look nearly identical to children’s snacks (emotional - “this will trick my kid”). The notion of an overdose is simple and profound (“a kid could get really hurt”). And, also, we respond to the concrete imagery of a child dying because they ate a tainted piece of candy during Halloween.

(Something about Halloween, btw, is quite vivid in parents’ eyes; perhaps because they are forced to trust a bunch of random strangers to do right by their kids for one night.)

Anyway, after these products gained some attention, enter some State Attorneys General, like Ohio AG Dave Yost, who issued a statement on the Halloween risks posed by the illegal snacks. And AG Yost was not alone in reefer-madness-style warnings.

Can you guess how many documented cases there are of serious injury or death in children caused by products like this?

Zero.

🤷🏻‍♂️

📊 Facts on facts on facts

To make sure we’re on the same page:

• Every year, 5,000 Americans under the age of 21 die as a result of drinking alcohol

• Every year, 0 Americans under the age of 21 die as a result of cannabis

• Every year, 93,000 Americans (any age) die of drug overdoses

• Every year, 0 Americans (any age) die of cannabis overdoses

• Ever year, more than 3,000 kids and teenagers are shot and killed. More than 15,000 are shot and injured

• Every year, 0 kids and teenagers die from cannabis

These statistics, to me, are desperately sad. Cannabis has been proven to be the safest recreational intoxicant on the planet, but its stigma is so pervasive that a sensational, nonsensical warning about kids dying from weed candies gains national attention.

🙃 Well, then…what do we do?

Two things:

First of all, we buy products from the regulated market, and we store them responsibly. Those illicit products give us all a bad name.

Secondly, lean heavily on your critical thinking skills, and communicate the results of that critical thinking to your Aunt Barbara who spends too much time on Facebook basking in the echo chamber, and who would be more than happy to spread nonsense by digital word of mouth.

I’m sure Barbara is sweet, but she is impressionable, and she has access to a “share” button.

There is another reason - a glaring one - why these stories about people handing out cannabis candies have no merit:

Who actually wants to give their weed away?

📚 tl: dr

• Urban legends are sticky because they are simple and profound, they are emotional, and they use concrete imagery (razorblades in apples)

• US Attorneys General issued statements over the risks of pediatric overdose (and death) from illicit market cannabis products - but there is no proof that these risks exist

• Risks from alcohol, drugs, and firearms vastly outweigh any risk from cannabis, which has killed zero humans in 200,000 years

• Buy products from the regulated market, store them safely, and slap down any hysteria around this kind of thing

• It is Wednesday