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In early 2007, warnings began to circulate about sweetened and flavored forms of methamphetamine known as Strawberry Quick (or Strawberry Quik, named after strawberry Quik, a powder used to make flavored milk drinks). Various news accounts about Strawberry Quick first reported it appearing in western states in January 2007 and described it as resembling rock candy or Pop Rocks (a kid-favored confection that fizzles in the mouth), prompting fears that it might fool children and teens into mistakenly perceiving it as candy (or perceiving it as a drug far less dangerous and addictive than it actually is): As of September 2017 versions of the warning still circulated on social media, some appended with a new image of the purported strawberry quick: However, after those early warnings about Strawberry Quick worked their way to the public through police, schools, and the news media, federal drug enforcement officials began issuing corrections that described such rumors as unfounded. While colored versions of methamphetamine that somewhat resemble candy may have been found, the notion that drug dealers are deliberately targeting children by producing flavored versions of the drug intended to mimic the appearance and taste of candy appears to have been based on mistaken assumptions: When colored versions of meth turn up, the coloring of the drug is likely incidental to the manufacturing process (rather than a quality deliberately introduced to increase the appeal of meth), and since police labs don't generally test drugs for flavoring ingredients, statements about seizures of flavored meth have probably been based solely on the drug's brightly hued appearance and not on its actual taste. As a DEA spokesman observed in 2010, the rumor about strawberry quick had nothing to it: The Partnership at Drugfree.org received similar responses from the DEA when they attempted to run the strawberry quick rumors to ground: And, as many others have noted, rumors of illegal drugs produced in a form intended to appeal to young children have been circulating for several decades and make little sense, as young children do not generally have the disposable income necessary to purchase such products. Nonetheless, in April 2007, U.S. Senators Feinstein and Grassley responded to the strawberry quick rumors by introducing legislation aimed at increasing the criminal penalties for anyone who markets or makes candy-flavored drugs by imposing upon them the same enhanced criminal sentences handed down to drug dealers who knowingly sell to minors.
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