Gardaí issue warning to parents over cannabis sweets and how they are packaged

A warning has been issued to parents by An Garda Siochána to be aware of cannabis sweets packaged to look almost identical to known brands of popular jellies.

Gardaí in Mayo recently seized a quality of the illegal sweets while, in Meath, the sweets were found in packets almost identical to well-known sweets - leading to fears that children could easily be tempted to unwittingly take one.

It has been reported that some of the illegal sweets discovered by Meath gardaí were laced with dangerous levels of the psychoactive chemical, THC.

Last year, according to the Breaking News website, 13 teenage girls in London were hospitalised after taking the candy drugs and suffered nausea, hyperactivity, elevated heart rates and hallucinations.

In Meath, the sweets have been seized in packets almost identical to well-known sweets leading to fears that a young child would easily be tempted to unwittingly take one.

Now gardaí in Meath have highlighted the drugs in a bid to raise awareness among young teens of the dangers they pose.

"These sweets seem to be the new trend out there at the moment. There are certainly around Meath in the last few months and have popped up quite a bit in drug searches," a spokesperson told Breaking News.

"They are mainly being discovered among hauls of other drugs in properties.

"They are being sold for up to €30 for a bag of five or six sweets and the bags would look very attractive to kids

"Indeed, some of the bags are so like the branded versions that many young kids would not tell the difference.

"They are just as potent, if not more potent, than regular cannabis."