Pharmacy Accidentally Hands Out Antipsychotic Medication with Candy
Oops! One Canadian pharmacy is doing its part to contribute to the urban legends of the world this Halloween by accidentally handing out antipsychotic medication along with the candy it was giving away to children.
The story sounds pretty far-fetched, but according to PopSugar, the Canadian pharmacy has admitted that it screwed up and accidentally distributed “Quetiapine, an antipsychotic used to treat schizophrenia and depression, and Divalproex sodium, an anticonvulsant used to treat seizures and the manic phase of bipolar disorder.”
The Quebec City pharmacy says a customer accidentally dropped her 17-year-old son’s medication on her way out of the store. Another customer picked it up and put it on the counter next to the candy bowl, and then a confused employee allegedly spotted the pills–which were individually wrapped and somehow mistakable for candy–and mixed them into the bowl.
”So unfortunately we don’t know how an employee just mixed it with the candy by accident and distributed it to the kids,” a Quebec City policeman said in an interview with the Daily Star.
Seven individually wrapped pills were reportedly given out to trick-or-treaters. Police say that kids will be safe even if they accidentally eat the pills, even though side effects can include nausea, paranoia, and suicidal thoughts.
The pharmacy has gone unnamed, but probably most people know if they went trick-or-treating at a pharmacy in Canada. If you did and you picked up some individually wrapped candies that look like pills, throw those out.
Accidentally handing out antipsychotic medication to children is a pretty bizarre mistake to make, but this is how urban legends get started. Next year, we’ll all be telling our kids not to take unlabeled candy, and not to go trick-or-treating at pharmacies.
