Do We Really Need These Kinds of Stories?

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W. Scott Poole: There is no real fear here that some maniacal drug dealer or some undocumented immigrant will be giving your kids free fentanyl this Halloween. Poole: The notion that cartels have come up with the idea of sneaking fentanyl into the country and then they're going to give it away makes no sense at all. He says there's a lot you can do to protect yourself on the wild, wild web. Zell wants to remind you, only send money to people you know and trust.

This year’s fear of rainbow fentanyl in kids’ trick-or-treat bags is just the latest unfounded Halloween candy freakout. But the yearly panic has its roots in a very real crisis: the 1982 Tylenol murders.

This episode was produced by Avishay Artsy, edited by Matt Collette, fact-checked by Laura Bullard with help from Jillian Weinberger, engineered by Efim Shapiro, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram.

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