This woman thinks drug dealers are handing out fentanyl on Halloween. Why? Because Fox News told her

[demmiblue]

Link to tweet

OMG!

[Torchlight]

1. 'Urban myths never die, they just get updated with new code.'

In 76 or 77 I was in middle school, the last year I figured I could get away with free candy for the night. Went w/ some pals of mine and as we're picking up our last friend, we get the Serious Dad Talk from his dad about making sure there are no loose joints in our candy cigarettes. "It's a real thing! I heard it on the news!!!"

[Caliman73]

3. Shit...tell me where that house is, I'm there!

Trick or treat bi###es!!

Yep, joints, acid, razor blades in the apples, spawned taking your candy to the hospital to get it x-rayed by the mid 80's and 90's. Then they started doing the candy giveaways at the Mall in the 2000's.

[JustAnotherGen]

4. I was a kid during the

Cyanide scare that never materialized. What - 82? 83?

[TheRealNorth]

7. It was razor blades for us...

I remember you could take your Halloween haul to be x-rayed. That was mid-late 80's.

[JustAnotherGen]

8. Yikes!

That must have been the year Halloween came out -right?

[Mariana]

11. There was a case of cyanide-laced Halloween candy in the 1970s.

A guy took out large life insurance policies on his kids, then poisoned their Halloween candy with cyanide. One kid died and he thought he could blame it on a random poisoner. He got convicted of murder and was executed.

Of course, before he was arrested and charged, the media were all over the story saying it was believed to be a random poisoning.

[JustAnotherGen]

13. Just spoke with my mom

It was 83 or 84 and was triggered by a guy in Japan. Evidently - the scare spread to America and that's why we had a neighborhood Halloween Party that year instead of trick or treating.

The next day - my mom sprained her ankle doing a Jane Fonda workout tape.

[Celerity]

49. Ronald Clark 'The Candyman' O'Bryan. Executed March 31, 1984

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Clark_O%27Bryan



Ronald Clark O'Bryan (October 19, 1944 – March 31, 1984), nicknamed The Candy Man and The Man Who Killed Halloween, was an American man convicted of killing his eight-year-old son Timothy (April 5, 1966 - October 31, 1974) on Halloween 1974 with a potassium cyanide-laced Pixy Stix that was ostensibly collected during a trick or treat outing.

O'Bryan poisoned his son in order to claim life insurance money to ease his own financial troubles, as he was $100,000 in debt. O'Bryan also distributed poisoned candy to his daughter and three other children in an attempt to cover up his crime; however, neither his daughter nor the other children ate the poisoned candy.

He was convicted of capital murder in June 1975 and sentenced to death. He was executed by lethal injection in March 1984.

[TheRealNorth]

20. To be honest....

With so many crazy Red Hats out there, I am worried about one of them poisoning the candy hoping that Biden and the Democrats would be blamed.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

2. Guess I'm going trick or treating this year for once! (nt)

[Caliman73]

6. Looking into your bag...

"What!?!? a goddammed Kit Kat!! I was told there would be Fentanyl!!

[jmowreader]

28. I'd rather have the Kit Kat

[Caliman73]

35. That is my poison too!

Though I have to say a Snickers Bar would be even better!

[Diamond_Dog]

5. Because Joe Biden has the border WIDE OPEN!

They’re streaming across the wide open border bringing their fentanyl along to give out to our kids on Halloween! I heard it on Fox News so it has to be true!

[Iggo]

9. Some DUers think the same thing. Who told them? (n/t)

[Kaleva]

16. A DEA bulliten

[Mariana]

33. The DEA bulletin said fentanyl is going to given out for Halloween?

[Just A Box Of Rain]

10. Another thread ignoring the fact that fentanyl deaths are soaring across the country

and that rainbow colored variants are being seized.

Reality-denialism is not a good look.

[ok_cpu]

12. It's being seized from trick or treat bags?

I don't see anyone denying the damage fentanyl is doing to our country or the danger of opioids in general.

It's the scary brown people just before election time story that folks are rightfully rolling their eyes at.

I mean, as long as the people who are motivated wholly by money are giving their products away free for Halloween, I'll take health care, an education, or housing in my pillow case.

[Just A Box Of Rain]

14. What's it matter if the drugs killing young people come from trick or treat bags (or not)?

I see lots of "this is all fear mongering" type comments here on DU and that strikes me as reality-denialism at its worst. Frankly.

Too many young people are overdosing and dying.

Those of us who have vulnerable people in or circles of trust would be well-advised to have heart-to-heart conversation with people we care about.

Fentanyl is extraordinary lethal.

[TheRealNorth]

17. The cartels are only doing what the Tobacco industry and now Vape industry have done for years.

And candy cigarettes were actually a thing. I am not sure what profit there would be in giving out fentanyl for Halloween. It's not like 6 year-olds have money to buy the stuff even if they got addicted.

[Just A Box Of Rain]

19. Only fentanyl can (and is) taking lives after a single dose.

That's the reality of this moment.

We can't ignore the threat fentanyl poses and we need to have honest conversations with those who are at risk.

[TheRealNorth]

21. But I think you are ignoring the intersection of Fentanyl and Halloween Candy

Which is what the right wing media seems to be playing up.

I think that Fox is giving cover for some nut on the right to actually try to this.

[Just A Box Of Rain]

22. No, what I'm not doing is ignoring the reality of the situation just because

Boebert is a clown. That is a "given," and it is (really) beside-the-point.

Candy-colored fentanyl is on the streets now and overdoses and deaths are way up. That's the truth of the situation that we need to grapple with.

The "trick or treat" aspect is a distraction from an issue that deserves our most-serious attention.

[inthewind21]

34. The trick or treat

aspect along with the stupidity of Fox viewers is the topic of this thread. Just sayin'. Oh and hey, did ya see, COVID rates are lower now than 2020. Look, a squirrel!

[Just A Box Of Rain]

37. Better to focus on what's actually important at the moment.

And that's facing the fact that fentanyl deaths and overdoses are soaring.

Too many people are losing loved ones.

"Trick or treat" is the "squirrel" in this situation.

[TheRealNorth]

48. Maybe we just need to lock them all up....

I mean, that is the Conservative solution when the drug user is a POC.

[Just A Box Of Rain]

50. Not really a productive response.

Why repeat right-wing talking points here?

[demmiblue]

38. +1

Certain people are going to do what they do, though.

[Just A Box Of Rain]

51. That's for sure.

Some people seem to think this is all a big joke.

[demmiblue]

54. Sure, Jan!

[Just A Box Of Rain]

55. Do you think you are funny?

Do you think that a drug that is killing people is a subject for yucks? Really???

[demmiblue]

61. ...

[ok_cpu]

23. Both things can be true

Way too many people are struggling and dying from easy access to opioids. It has hit very close to my home.

And, scary brown people are not passing out fentanyl to 10 year olds in Harry Styles costumes.

I scoff only at the xenophobic Fox train arriving at the station right on time. And agree with you if what you mean is that we need to do more as a nation to support addicts and eliminate the conditions that allow populations to be vulnerable.

[Just A Box Of Rain]

25. We need to be aware that despite Boertert being an absolute clown that the current situation

with fentanyl is a crisis.

People are overdosing (and too many are dying) from taking just one pill.

And the current batch are candy-colored. That is a marketing decision by drug cartels that aims at attracting young people. And unfortunately the marketing appears to be working, as deaths and overdoses are up.

We need a progressive response (as opposed to pretending this isn't a massive problem in this moment).

[ok_cpu]

30. On that we agree. I appreciate your advocacy. n/t

[Mr.Bill]

57. That's completely different than saying

drug dealers will be giving it to kids on Halloween.

[Just A Box Of Rain]

59. Yet instead of threads that deal with the reality, we have a couple

of threads that treat this crisis as a big joke.

And one more--started as a reaction--where people from the DU community are saying this crisis is real, not fodder for bad jokes, and that they have lost love ones and friends to fentanyl.

We should focus on the real issue here.

[demmiblue]

62. Yet here you are kicking this thread.

Perhaps you should heed your own advice.

[Just A Box Of Rain]

63. You worry about you and I'll worry about me.

[demmiblue]

64. Aww.

[Kaleva]

15. This is based on a DEA press release

https://www.dea.gov/press-releases/2022/08/30/dea-warns-brightly-colored-fentanyl-used-target-young-americans

[Just A Box Of Rain]

31. Yes. Are we no longer accepting the Biden-led DEA to be a good source on what's happening

with the supply of illicit drugs in this country?

I was asked to produce evidence that candy-colored "rainbows fentanyl" exists, and the DEA seems like an authoritative source.

[Caliman73]

36. The DEA release does not say anything about "illegals handing it out as Halloween candy"

When you allow lies and hyperbole to run parallel to fact, you legitimize the lies.

Boebert is lying and using racism to attack President Biden and the Democratic Party. To stoke racialized fear in the populace.

Yes, Fentanyl is a crisis. Yes it is being shipped in bright colors specifically to appeal to young people. Those facts give absolutely no credence to the racist bullshit that Boebert is putting out and we should not help to conflate the two.

I strongly suggest you start your own threads about the rainbow colored Fentanyl epidemic, so that you aren't helping to muddy the waters.

[Kaleva]

41. Where did I say it did? Do you know what the definition of "based" is?

I said it's based on the DEA report and I think you agree drug dealers are coloring the drugs to make it more attractive to young people.

[Just A Box Of Rain]

60. Muddy the waters?

Fentanyl is killing people. We need to have a serious response to a real problem.

Instead we seem distracted by Boebert's "trick or treat" baloney. No one is buying that BS.

But few are treating fentanyl like the threat to life that it is, in my estimation.

[Caliman73]

65. I am not sure I agree about what you are saying about the response to Fentanyl

Many people are taking the problem very seriously. The problem is that addressing the problem take a comprehensive approach, which takes money, which takes legislation appropriating that money.

Republicans will do NOTHING except say that it is President Biden's fault and some stupid shit about the border being wide open.

This is a demand problem more than a supply problem. We need to treat the demand with treatment, social, and vocational programs as well as (and more so than) interdiction. At the local level, services are overwhelmed and at the State and Federal level they are gridlocked. I guarantee that if we had Democrats in charge in a meaningful way at all levels of government, this situation would be being addressed in a major way. The problem is that we do not. Republicans manage to cheat or lie their way into power and they do so by breaking government, saying it doesn't work, then blaming Democrats because we believe that government can and should work to make people's lives better.

I don't think that people on our side are distracted. We can walk and chew gum at the same time. We can mock idiots like Boebert for trying to gin up racial resentment ahead of elections, AND we can address the threat of fentanyl and other addictive substances.

When we squabble with each other about this and that or "this is more important than that" it takes away even more energy from addressing the issue and addressing Republican lies about the issue.

Yes, it is muddying the waters. Let people mock Boebert as she deserves, and also address the Fentanyl crisis. It doesn't have to be one or the other, as they are two separate issues.

[Midnight Writer]

18. When I was in journalism school, the Professor did a section on the blotter acid scare.

The story was that blotter acid was being put on removable "tattoos" that kids could lick and transfer onto their arms. They put the blotter on paper with popular cartoon characters to encourage children to handle and lick them.

I saw this news "scoop" (and its variations) repeated again and again over the years, including a front page article written years later by a guy who sat next to me in the class. By the way, the guy eventually became a State Senator (as a Republican, of course). I reckon he learned a different lesson from the class than I did.

[Tickle]

24. Open your eyes this is real

not the halloween part of it but the whole fentanyl thing. I started a thread on it but I guess it's easier to make fun of it rather then to face it

[Just A Box Of Rain]

26. Thank you!

The fentanyl crisis is real and the mockery is rather hard to take.

[demmiblue]

27. Umm, I know that (I'm assuming that the vast majority here does, as well).

[Tickle]

29. it wasn't directed at you

I just saw another laughing post and it gets me going

sorry

[demmiblue]

39. I saw your other post...

[Iggo]

44. Lose the Halloween angle and people will take you seriously.

[Tickle]

45. I thought by making this statement

"Now I know Halloween is coming and the fears of fentanyl being given out is no greater than the razor blade in the apple thing."

That it would remove the halloween thing but apparently I was wrong

[inthewind21]

32. Makes perfect sense

Cause we all know drug dealers are known for GIVING AWAY drugs to anyone who knocks on their door.

[leftstreet]

40. Next they'll be handing out catalytic converters

instead of stealing and selling them to buy the dangerously addictive drugs they're now supposedly handing out at Halloween. what?

[iemanja]

42. I don't suppose it occurs to these people that drug dealers want money?

They don't give away their product for free.

[Mr.Bill]

56. This would explain why

drug dealers have not been known to hand out deadly doses of drugs to children on past Halloweens.

[Initech]

43. Fox News is the worst thing to happen to this country in the last 40 years.

[Iggo]

46. With Social Media right behind it...lol.

Collectively we’re a bunch of morons and I don’t see it getting fixed in my lifetime.

[Tickle]

47. Have they been around for 40 years

wow! I thought they were a fly by night fake news

[Emile]

52. It's no wonder how Trump so easily conned all the stupid Republicans. .

[Sogo]

53. It's been on the local news in Des Moines, IA, for a couple of nights:

Rainbow fentanyl looks like Halloween candy....

[leftyladyfrommo]

58. Fentanyl is a really big problem here in KCMO.

Kids should stick to safe places to go on Halloween.
It hasn't been safe for years.