Halloween Fearmongering Alert: Weed-Laced Candy Seized in Maryland

Happy Halloween, everybody: Here are some ways that candy may kill you (not really). Police in Prince George's County, Maryland announced today that they seized "several" boxes of marijuana-infused candy illegally shipped to the state: NBC4 reports the weed-laced candy, which included treats like chocolate bars and taffy, each contained 100 milligrams of THC and were shipped from Colorado and "elsewhere on the west coast" where marijuana consumption is legal. (Last week, many Colorado residents voiced concerns that weed-laced candy could inadvertently be distributed to trick-or-treaters, with a spokesperson from the lobbying group SMART Colorado telling USA Today that "we see this as a problem and we don't believe it's being blown out of proportion.")

Meanwhile, the Center for Environmental Health has taken the holiday opportunity to re-issue a previous warning that many brands of licorice — including licorice made by Trader Joe's and Jelly Belly — contain "unsafe amounts of lead." The health organization notified the brands in February 2014 that many test samples registered higher lead amounts than the FDA-approved 0.1 parts per million. Double-check those trick-or-treating bags, folks.