Police warning to parents as sweets laced with drugs sweep across Yorkshire

North Yorkshire Police have issued a warning to parents and carers after spotting the 'worrying trend' of edibles, including several reports of the drugged sweets being raised in child exploitation meetings.

The dangerous sweets are unregulated and it is not known how high the level of drugs in them could be.

Police said offenders were taking advantage of the fact children are online a lot more during the lockdown to target them.

A statement from North Yorkshire Police said: "The officers have been made aware of a recent increase in availability and use of “Edibles” across North Yorkshire.

"This worrying trend has also been flagged-up as a concern through the Multi Agency Child Exploitation meetings."

PC Lauren Green said: “We want to make parents and carers aware that we have seen a slight rise in young people being in possession of drug-infused sweets known as “edibles”.

“They can look very similar to well-known sweets such as Haribo, Smarties and chocolate bars. Edibles can be laced with illegal drugs such as cannabis and MDMA.

“Unregulated sweets like these are dangerous as we don’t know what levels of drugs they contain. They are available to buy on the internet and so could easily be obtained by young people, especially at this time when they are using the internet more than ever due to the coronavirus restrictions.”

Anyone with information about suspected illegal drug use or drug dealing is urged to call North Yorkshire Police on 101.

If you would prefer to remain anonymous, please contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

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