This is a standard safety precaution that parents regularly follow after their kids have finished trick-or-treating: checking kids’ Reese’s Pieces, Mars bars, and Nerds Ropes to make sure none have been opened or tampered with.

But some Halloween dangers are closer to home and are more likely to occur than the threat of death. Poison control centers in the Philadelphia area are issuing a warning after someone maliciously tampered with candy.

Poison helplines they are taking More calls about kids eating marijuana ediblesIt sometimes comes in packaging that mimics popular candies and appeals to young children. And kids often find them not in their trick-or-treat bags, but at their parents’ or friends’ homes.

“Most of the time when children become infected with our own products, it happens in our own homes,” said Anthony Jaworski, a clinical toxicologist at the poison control center. Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

This doesn’t mean parents shouldn’t take precautions about the candy their kids bring home. Experts say it’s always safest to review your kids’ Halloween shopping before letting them dig in. But they also want parents to secure potentially dangerous items already in the home that children might mistake for candy.

On a recent Halloween, the New Jersey Poison Control Center and Rutgers New Jersey Medical School helped care for a child who was hospitalized with nausea, vomiting and difficulty breathing after ingesting marijuana edibles he found in a babysitter’s jacket pocket.

Bruce Ruck, the center’s executive director, has never witnessed a case of a child ingesting marijuana distributed during trick-or-treating. But she worries about what kids might get into at a time when there’s a lot of candy in the house.

“I worry about parents or anyone who has (edible marijuana) around their home,” he said. “We are worried the child will see it and assume it is like most other things in the house.”

The New Jersey poison center has fielded 100 calls for children under 5 who have consumed marijuana so far this year.

Most children hospitalized after smoking marijuana recover within a day or two. Central nervous system depression, which can cause slurred speech, coordination problems, and drowsiness, is the most common side effect. According to a study in the journal Pediatrics Research analyzing thousands of marijuana purchases between 2017 and 2021. More serious symptoms include slowed breathing or heart rate.

Recreational marijuana is legal in New Jersey. It is illegal in Pennsylvania, but residents can purchase hemp derivatives such as delta-8 THC, which is said to have a milder high than delta-9 THC, the main cannabinoid in marijuana.

Delta-8 available in a legal gray area but there is has historically been less regulated It is better than recreational or medical marijuana. It is sometimes sold at gas stations and grocery stores. (A New law in New Jersey banned the sale of delta-8 outside licensed dispensaries, and minors can no longer purchase it.)

And the packaging of many delta-8 products can resemble popular candies.

“Sometimes the packages look like traditional candies like Lucky Charms or Nerds,” Jaworski said. “I always say to avoid purchasing these products in the first place.”

“If you have marijuana products at home, treat them like medicine and keep them locked up,” he said.

How do we protect children from taking other drugs?

Two years ago the Drug Enforcement Administration issued a warning that:rainbow fentanylA colorful form of the deadly synthetic opioid. The DEA said the product was marketed to children and teenagers. The warning caused a national uproar, with news organizations and lawmakers warning that children could find fentanyl in their trick-or-treat bags.

The DEA later clarified that officials did not believe trick-or-treaters were at risk. Panic may have sometimes obscured the true dangers of fentanyl, which has caused hundreds of thousands of overdose deaths. pressed into pharmaceutical pill form This can fool unsuspecting users into thinking they are getting a safer drug.

As with edible marijuana, most young people children accidentally taking opioids They do this at home with medications, prescription or otherwise, that belonged to their parents or grandparents.

“I can safely say that the problem is not around our Halloween candy,” Jaworski said. But he added that anyone with opioids in their home should also consider having naloxone, which reverses opioid overdose, nearby.

If family members are coming for vacation, make sure any medications they bring are kept in bottles with child-resistant caps and are not left in a bag or suitcase where a small child could get into them.

Other trick-or-treating risks

Parents should follow long-standing guidance. Throw away any candy that looks opened. Melted chocolate should also be thrown away to prevent food poisoning.

Be mindful of your trick-or-treating route and don’t let kids pick up wrappers — Jaworski found discarded delta-8 wrappers in the street near his home Central City – or eat the berries or mushrooms that grow along the way. “It’s mushroom season right now and we don’t want kids picking poisonous plants or mushrooms along the way,” he said.

The New Jersey poison center also calls out glow sticks: “If they break, they can get into the eyes and cause irritation. If you swallow them, you could get a sore throat and maybe vomit,” Jaworski said.

Ruck also advised parents to be wary of allergens that could harm children. Parents should make sure face paints and other Halloween cosmetics do not contain ingredients that could irritate their child’s skin.

And for kids with food allergies, parents should go through their bags to check for potential allergens and also keep an EpiPen handy if a child is using one.

If you suspect your child has eaten an allergen, marijuana edible, or other harmful substance, call the poison control line at 1-800-222-1222, which will connect you to the nearest poison control center.

“It is faster to call us instead of searching for something on social media platforms. We are all healthcare professionals and we are all here to help,” Ruck said.