Meth Found In Child's Halloween Candy Prompts Warning From Wisconsin Police

Nina Golgowski
Wisconsin authorities urged parents to inspect their children’s Halloween candy after a small bag of methamphetamine was distributed to a child near Green Bay.

Wisconsin authorities urged parents to inspect their children’s Halloween candy after a small bag of methamphetamine was distributed to a child near Green Bay.

The small baggie, about the size of a quarter, was given to a child trick-or-treating on Sunday in the Menominee Indian Reservation in Keshena, about 47 miles northwest of Green Bay, the Menominee Tribal Police Department said.

An parent reported it to police later that night. A test on the baggie’s white, crystalline substance tested positive for methamphetamine, police said.

Out of caution, local authorities asked parents to dispose of all candy collected in the area, as well as the bags that the candy was stored in. Another candy event was scheduled for Tuesday night at the College of Menominee Nation so that kids could replace their lost treats.

“Unfortunately ziplock baggies can open up [and] we don’t know if there are more out there,” Police Det. Joshua Lawe said at a press conference on Monday.

“Right now this is an isolated incident, but if there was more out there, if it does get out of the ziplock baggies and kids are touching this candy, that can be very dangerous to them. Even to the parents,” he said.

As for whether authorities believe the drug was given intentionally or accidentally, Lawe said, “we’re not 100 percent sure.”

Parent Jarrit Okimosh, whose two young daughters had been out collecting candy in the area, attended the press conference and said the discovery left him deeply shaken and reevaluating his parental role.

“She told me, dad, it’s your job to protect us, right?” he recalled a conversation he later had with his 9-year-old. “I said, yeah it is, because I actually let her eat candy before I checked it because this is such a tight-knit community. Everyone cares. The youth are our pride. We make great sacrifices for our youth.”

Lawe said that the area has seen a rise in meth use.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.