A 63-year-old man and 53-year-old woman were arrested after Winnipeg police claimed they distributed cannabis candy to trick-or-treating on Monday.
Over a dozen reports of the candy came from a small area in the southern Tuxedo neighborhood, the Winnipeg Police Department said in a news release Wednesday. The children who received the sweets were between six and 16 years old.
“I’m upset it happened as a parent,” Winnipeg Police Spokesman Const said. Dani McKinnon said at a press conference on Wednesday. “Unfortunately, as a police officer, I’m not surprised.”
The cannabis edibles were all found in zip-lock sandwich bags, along with large candy bars, and packaged to look like the popular Nerds candy, police say.
The packs say they contain 600 milligrams of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) — marijuana’s main psychoactive property. The maximum THC level for edibles in Canada is 10 milligrams per package.
Testing the candies for THC will take a while, but investigators believe the candies are THC gummy candies and appear to be “exact replicas” of the popular Nerds rope candies, McKinnon said. More parents are expected to report having received them.
There have been no reports of harm to children who received the candy, McKinnon said.
CLOCK | Winnipeg Police Const. Dani McKinnon updates on arrests:
Update on Cannabis Candy found in Halloween Candy
Winnipeg Police Department is providing an update on the cannabis candy given out to trick-or-treating on Halloween night.
Investigators believe no one was deliberately attacked, but the motive for giving out the candy is still unknown, she said.
The man and woman, who are now charged, were arrested after police searched a home near the south end of Coleraine Crescent, Wednesday’s news release said.
They are expected to face 13 counts each of distributing cannabis to a minor, distributing illegal cannabis, negligent bodily harm and administering a harmful thing with intent to endanger life.
Both defendants were released on promises to appear in court.
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Eugene Oscapella, a criminal justice professor at the University of Ottawa who specializes in illicit drug policy and law, said it’s hard to say why anyone would give cannabis candy to children.
“Typically, people sell drugs in the illicit market to make money,” he told Radio-Canada on Wednesday. “It can only be people who just want to cause trouble.”
There are extensive provisions in the Cannabis Act that prohibit packaging or labels that would make cannabis products attractive to young people, such as colorful packaging, Oscapella said.
Legal cannabis suppliers who violate these regulations can face fines of up to $5 million and three years in prison, he said. Illegal suppliers who do the same could face 14 years in prison.
Eugene Oscapella, a professor of criminal justice at the University of Ottawa who specializes in politics and law related to illicit drugs, says he’s not sure why anyone would give cannabis candies to children other than to cause trouble. (Jérémie Bergeron/Radio Canada)
“These were clearly not legal products… This is an illegal product purchased from an unregulated, unlicensed, illegal source,” said Trina Fraser, a partner at Brazeau Seller Law in Ottawa.
If the THC candies were accidentally dispensed, Fraser doubts the same mix-up would have happened if they were products legally purchased in Canada due to the strict packaging requirements.
“These packages are not to be confused with candy,” she told CBC on Wednesday. The edibles would have included multiple warning labels and child-resistant packaging had they been legally purchased in Canada, she said.
Counterfeit packaging to make drugs attractive to young people is a bigger problem with fentanyl, Oscapella said, and resources to combat the problem are already tight in Canada.
Winnipeg police did not comment on where they believe the candy was purchased or manufactured, but Oscapella says it is easy to buy illegal and high-potency cannabis edibles — like those sold in Winnipeg — online in Canada.
In Richmond, BC, an 11-year-old boy was hospitalized and later discharged after consuming a similar THC candy on Monday that they got in their Halloween treats, the RCMP said there on Tuesday.
No similar reports have been made in Richmond and police say this is likely an isolated case.
Oscapella says that since the substance is unlikely to kill anyone, capturing people selling illegal cannabis online is generally not a high priority for police.
But “there will always be an illicit market” for cannabis, he said, adding that parents should remain vigilant.
Sharp object found in candy bar: Police
Police said four packs of the THC candies have been seized so far when police spoke to affected families. Investigators intend to speak to more people and possibly source more packs of the candy, the press release said.
“What I can say is that I’m really glad the community worked so quickly,” McKinnon said at Wednesday’s press conference, and social media had a positive impact on this one.
CLOCK | Police credit social media for helping in edibles case:
Police credit social media for quick fix in edibles case
Two people in Winnipeg have been charged with giving out cannabis candy to trick-or-treating people on Halloween night. constant Dani McKinnon credits the public with spreading the word.
Winnipeg’s parent Jocelyn Cordeiro posted about the candy on social media Monday to warn other parents about the edibles. She was horrified when her nine-year-old daughter found one of the packs of THC candy in her Halloween bag on Monday night.
“It just looked like a box of candy,” she told CBC on Tuesday.
Police also received a report of a sharp object found inside a small chocolate bar in North Kildonan, McKinnon said on Wednesday.
The incident was unrelated to the THC candy, she said, but a good reminder for parents to check out their kids’ Halloween treats.
“Unfortunately, the police receive one or two similar reports every year.”
2 Arrested After Giving Cannabis Candy To Trick-or-Treaters
A 63-year-old man and 53-year-old woman face numerous charges after Winnipeg police allege they distributed cannabis candies to trick-or-treating Monday night.