The police in Winter Haven, Florida, issued a warning to parents about colorfully packaged chocolate bars containing "shrooms" or "magic mushrooms" that were retrieved during a recent search warrant.
No reports have been revealed about children consuming the bars laced with mushrooms, but authorities are encouraging parents to talk to their children about its potential risk, local news station WFTS-TV reported.
"This type of substance is a Schedule 1 drug and is not legal in the State of Florida," said Winter Haven Chief of Police David Brannan, according to the news outlet. "Parents are encouraged to speak with their children about consuming anything that could possibly contain a dangerous substance."
No details were revealed about how or where the police found the bars, but Tampa Free Press reported that the chocolates were sent to a lab for testing.
"Magic mushrooms" contain a psychoactive and hallucinogenic compound called psilocybin and can increase blood pressure and heart rate. It could also cause nausea, vomiting, hallucination or delusions.
Newsweek reached out to the Winter Haven Police Department for comment.
The Winter Haven warning comes amid multiple reports of fentanyl spreading across the country, sparking concerns. Officials on the West Coast expressed concern over the sale of rainbow fentanyl on some social media apps.
The Placer County District Attorney's Office in California said recently in a press release that "rainbow-colored batches of fentanyl making its way into the county, seemingly designed to market to minors."
"Reports are showing that many of these sales are happening on app-based programs such as Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok," the district attorney's office said, adding that fentanyl can come in different forms, including fake prescription pills and off-market vape pens, and has been reportedly found in marijuana.
On August 19, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers seized over 15,000 of candy-sized fentanyl pills in Arizona, according to CBP Port of Nogales Arizona Director Michael W. Humphries, who added that the pills were "strapped to a person's legs."
"This could be the start of a trend with Transnational Criminal Organizations targeting younger users," Humphries said on Twitter.
Meanwhile, DEA Administrator Anne Milgram previously warned that fentanyl is "the single deadliest drug threat our nation has ever encountered. From large cities to rural America, no community is safe from the presence of fentanyl."
Separately, in late April, a 9-year-old was suspended from school in Klein, Texas, after eating candy that contained marijuana that she allegedly received from another student. The girl, identified as Amiya, said that her friend offered her some sour gummy candy and that she ate a piece in the bathroom without any knowledge that it was laced with marijuana.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Fatma Khaled is a Newsweek weekend reporter based in New York City. Her focus is reporting on U.S. politics, world ... Read more
