Lace-up candies are increasing in popularity and can range from candy bars to gummy bears. These sweet drugs are easily disguised, flavored and, as expected, popular with young people. Its seemingly innocuous shape and colorful packaging make taking medications more accessible and much less scary than other routes of administration, such as injecting with a needle. Not only can medication-mixed candies include everything from lollipops to Sour Patch Kids, but the medications contained in candies can vary as well.
The culprit is gummy bears mixed with THC, the main mind-altering ingredient in marijuana. Researchers determined that each had eaten half of a gummy bear with drugs before becoming ill. Just to be clear, three-centimeter-tall bears are not drugs disguised as candy. They're real candy with drugs inside.
Because of these irregularities, people cannot always be sure of the amount of medication they are taking in a serving, let alone what medications they are taking. Flakka can also cause a rise in body temperature of up to 105 degrees, which is why many users of the drug have found themselves naked or taking off their clothes. According to the police, the only difference between flakka gummy bears and sour children is that gummy bears with drugs were individually wrapped and were extremely sticky. One way to help prevent drug use in adolescence is to educate your children about the dangers of these types of substances, regardless of their form.
A Colorado man was arrested a few years ago for allegedly sending gummy bears with LSD and chocolate across the country. Investigators say they have the name of the person who sold gummy bears with drugs to teens and believe the drugs may have come from a state where marijuana is legal. Although not as common, there have been chocolate bars and gummies mixed with drugs such as methamphetamine. Flakka, also known as gravel, is a synthetic drug that the media have reported cases of human exposure in Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio.
Police in Northwest Indiana say 11 teenagers were taken to hospitals Thursday night after eating gummy bears mixed with the active ingredient found in marijuana, THC. Last December, 13 teenagers in Naperville were taken to the hospital after eating gummies also mixed with marijuana. After further investigation, they discovered that gummy bears contained an extremely dangerous drug called Flakka. Because methamphetamine is so addictive, these drugs could cause dependence, and the user may eventually need professional treatment for methamphetamine addiction.
Investigators announced that the drug was to blame on Friday, although they stated that they had sent samples of the gummy bears for further forensic examination. While it's hard to talk about the dangers of drugs and peer pressure for young children, it's never too early to start exercises to strengthen individual thinking processes and decision-making.
