Gummy bear mugshot. Photos via Laval Police Service
The war on drugs in Canada has a chewy new target—gummy bears.
Police in Laval, Quebec issued a warning on their Facebook page Friday afternoon, asking for citizens to be vigilant about the “possible circulation of drugs which look like candy.”
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More specifically, bear-shaped jujubes laced with THC—the illegal chemical in marijuana plants that gets you high.
VICE spoke with Laval police Sergeant Frédéric Jean, who said that the discovery was the result of a routine pot arrest on May 14 by patrollers in Chomedey. The officers noticed two 19-year-old men smoking marijuana in a car.
“They approached the two individuals and proceeded to their arrest. The vehicle was pretty filthy which means it would have been a pretty long search of the car. So the patroller asked one of the young men if they had any other drugs in the car and one of the suspects handed a bag of jujubes to the officer.
“At first they thought it was a joke, but they seized it anyway and sent the gummy bears to Health Canada who confirmed that there was indeed THC inside them.”
So —to be clear—the three centimeter-tall bears are not drugs disguised as candy. They are actual candies with drugs inside.
“We’ve seized synthetic drugs in the past which had the appearance of candies, but this is the first case of a jujube. It’s a candy with THC inside.”
Jean said that the seizure was a first not only for the city, but maybe even for Canada.
“They’ve received muffins, cakes, brownies in the past but never jujubes. It was the first time.”
Jean said that the reason for the Facebook post was to protect children and drug addicts but mainly to find out where the mysterious bears came from.
“We don’t know who made them or where they came from,” Jean told VICE. “Based on our findings, we can assume it’s not a small batch but a pretty serious production. We want the public to help us find out who is producing and selling these jujubes because the two suspects would not tell us.”
In an effort to uncover the origins of the ursine contraband, the Laval police have assured the public that “any information on the origin of these jujubes will be treated confidentially.”
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