Attorney general: THC-laced snacks mirroring popular brands on the rise

A standard cannabis edible contains five milligrams of THC, but the lookalike Cheetos has 600 milligrams, meaning a child who ate the whole bag would be consuming 120 times the typical adult dose.

News 12 Staff

Oct 29, 2021, 2:50 AM

Updated 1,103 days ago

Share:

Parents are being warned ahead of the Halloween weekend about treats that look like popular snacks but are laced with an active ingredient in cannabis.
Items like Sour Patch Kids and Cheetos are just some of the brands being sold. In some cases, a small warning label in the corner is the only difference that's noticeable between the real snack and the one that is laced with THC.
According to the attorney general, the products are illegal, unregulated and can contain enough THC to possibly cause an overdose.
A standard cannabis edible contains five milligrams of THC, but the lookalike Cheetos has 600 milligrams, meaning a child who ate the whole bag would be consuming 120 times the typical adult dose.
Jeffrey Reynolds, with the Family and Children's Association, says the items are being sold using a legal loophole because they contain a form of THC that comes from hemp instead of marijuana.
"We've seen a pretty dramatic increase in these types of products," Reynolds says.
He says it's time to crack down on predators who would market these kinds of products to children.
THC-laced cookies were briefly sold at a store in Long Beach.
The owner says they were taken out of the store following public outcry, including a rally in June.
"Anything that was controversial, we took down right away as soon as we found out about it," the owner says.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, children who have overdosed on THC could have trouble walking or sitting up and have difficulty breathing.
If a child is sick and it's possible they have eaten one of the snacks, poison control should be contacted right away.