NewsChannel 5.com - Nashville, Tennessee - Candy Flavored Drug On The Rise

Candy Flavored Drug On The Rise

DICKSON, TENN. - Police are investigating cases involving a new, candy flavored form of methamphetamine targeted at children.

Police have found the drug in Memphis. It looks like candy and drug dealers are adding flavors like strawberry or chocolate.

Drug abuse in schools is always an issue for Jeanna Yates and her son, Austin Yates.   

"As a parent I talk to them," she said. "The school talks to them, but it's a huge worry."

Now, parents have one more drug to worry about. A new kind of methamphetamine could be on its way to Middle Tennessee. It's called "strawberry meth" or "children's meth."

The drug is flavored and made to look like the candy pop rocks.

"It's already been in Memphis," said Dickson County Assistant District Attorney Ray Crouch. "We have a confirmed case in Memphis."

Crouch said parents should not panic, but they still need to know what to look for.

"They're using strawberry Quik like Nestle's quik, the mixes to flavor it, and they're promoting it with items that kids maybe attracted to," he said.

Crouch warns parents and children about the new meth when he talks to schools and civic groups about the dangers of the drug.

It's a new threat trying to undermine what has been a successful battle in Tennessee to curb the use of meth.

Crouch said since the state started cracking down, the number of meth labs has dropped by nearly half in Dickson and the surrounding area. 

"I'm not sure everybody understands how dangerous the drug is," Austin Yates.

Austin believes the new threat of a children's meth should not be taken lightly, neither does his mom.

"It's a great concern I think to most parents, especially whenever they're trying to disguise it as something that's innocent," she said.

Police said the emergence of flavored meth is a way drug dealers are trying to hide the ingredients such as gasoline, lye and battery acid, which are all used to make meth.

Police said this one more reason parents should tell their children never to take candy or anything else from strangers.

In addition to Memphis, police have found flavored meth in Arkansas, Missouri, and Nevada. Metro police said they've not seen this drug in Nashville.