The Mounties took on the munchies ahead of Halloween this year, with Canadian investigators busting a group alleged to have made and sold marijuana edibles in packaging similar to legitimate snack and candy brands.
The rip-offs included weed-based puns like “Reefer’s” instead of Reese’s, “Kush Kat” instead of KitKat and “Stoney Patch” instead of Sour Patch, but also included edibles sold in bags bearing brand names like “Doritos,” “Takis,” “Cheetos” and “Nerds.”
On Oct. 3, Royal Canadian Mounted Police personnel raided two dispensaries and five residences on Vancouver Island. They found more than 120,000 units of edibles, 2.2 pounds of cannabis resin, more than 500 pounds of cannabis bud, more than 19 pounds of cannabis concentrate and more than 5,000 cannabis vaporizer cartridges, the Mounties said Tuesday.
Canadian law enforcement also found hundreds of thousands in cash, two ATM machines, five vehicles, contraband tobacco equal to 82,000 packs of cigarettes, more than 6.6 pounds of hallucinogenic psilocybin mushrooms, 1,740 psilocybin capsules and more than 400 psilocybin edibles and other psilocybin products.
RCMP said that, despite the professional-looking packaging, the dosages of the seized drug products were unknown and cross-contamination caused by production inside an unsanitary trailer was likely.
“[It] is possible that the consumption of these products can lead to serious health risks. We urge members of the public to practice extreme caution if they already possess, or come across such products in the future, especially with Halloween being just around the corner,” Chief Superintendent Stephen Lee, the deputy regional commander for the RCMP’s Pacific region, said in the agency’s release.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.