Pass Go, collect $200

Mar 5, 2008 15:14 GMT  ·  By

In the history of not checking things that should be double-checked, the eighty Oxfordshire schools, jumping through hoops over the warning of a possible threat of the deadly "Strawberry Meth" or "Strawberry Quick," and the officer propagating the message should have one of the top positions. Truth be told, the schools have almost no blame in the entire matter, but the situation should have been known to the managing board by the time the warning came.

The officer received word of the threat via email and immediately forwarded it to the learning institutions "via a special system connecting police and schools without checking it with colleagues," as the Evening Standard reported.

One of the more usual messages claiming Strawberry Meth is coming in a town near you goes something like: "I have been alerted by one of our EMT's for our volunteer fire department that they have received emails from emergency responder organizations to be on the lookout for a new form of crystalized methamphetamine that is targeted at children and to be aware of this new form if called to an emergency involving a child that may have symptoms of drug induction or overdose. They are calling this new form of meth 'Strawberry Quick' and it looks like the 'Pop Rocks' candy that sizzle in your mouth. In its current form, it is dark pink in color and has a strawberry scent to it," according to the Hoax Slayer site.

Needless to say, there was nothing strawberry flavored going around and causing serious consequences if ingurgitated other than ice cream, fattening if eaten in excess. Chief Inspector Dennis Evendon, West Oxforshire's most senior police officer, apologized for the whole deal, saying that: "The officer should have double checked before taking this action, which he did take with the best intentions. We will be making sure this sort of thing does not happen again."