Parents being worried that their kid’s favorite candy is laced with some addictive narcotic substance may sound like a paranoid fantasy, but when the head of Indonesia’s National Narcotics Agency (BNN) makes unsubstantiated claims that drug dealers are targeting kindergarteners, it doesn’t sound that crazy.
Recently, many parents in Tangerang have apparently been freaking out about a particular kind of candy that their kids can’t seem to get enough of. There were even reports that kids who ate this candy would fall asleep for up to two days.
Parents worried that the candy, called Perman Jari (literally “Candy Fingers”), contained some sort of hazardous, narcotic ingredient. This led to numerous parents reporting Permen Jari to the BNN who in turn contacted the Tangerang Department of Health.
“There is info from BNN that Perman Jari might contain an addictive substance. That is why we immediately investigated,” said Lisa Puspitadewi, chief medical officer at the department, as quoted by Warta Kota yesterday.
The health department worked with the Food and Drugs Monitoring Agency (BPOM) to do lab tests on the candy and shockingly they found out it was…. regular candy that is totally safe for consumption.
“Children enjoy eating Perman Jari because they’re sweet and they have a cute shape, ” said Lisa.
If this was all some part of a guerilla marketing campaign by the makers of Permen Jari, kudos to them on a job well done.
FYI parents, you never need to worry about drug dealers slipping drugs to your kids. Drugs are expensive! Dealers don’t give them away, especially to kids who couldn’t possibly pay for them. The only thing you need to worry about with your kid’s candy is the crazy amount of sugar in them.
