This year’s Halloween candy tampering panic has just made its arrival, as the media spreads misinformation on the supposed threat of a new drug being slipped into children’s Halloween candy. Panic surrounding the potential of children receiving tampered Halloween candy occurs on a yearly basis, but it is largely an old urban legend. Every year, parents and the media spread myths about the possibility of drugs, razor blades, glass, or sewing needles being covertly handed out in children’s Halloween candy from the hands of some ill-wishing stranger.

The Halloween candy tampering panic is believed to have first started around the 1970s. Two children’s deaths during the decade were initially erroneously reported to have been caused by Halloween candy. In 1970, Kevin Toston, a boy from Detroit, died from heroin poisoning. His family claimed that the drug had been sprinkled over his Halloween candy. However, it was later revealed that he had ingested a heroin capsule he found at his Uncle’s house.