Is handing out to children Ex-lax on Halloween against the law?

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Is handing out to children Ex-lax on Halloween against the law?

Quick Answer

Handing out Ex-Lax (a laxative) to children on Halloween is not explicitly prohibited by a specific "poisoned candy" statute, as no such law exists.

However, it could lead to serious criminal charges such as assault, battery, or attempted murder if it causes harm or is intended to cause bodily injury.

Additionally, if the giver is a registered sex offender, they may be violating state-specific "No Candy" laws that prohibit them from distributing any items to minors during Halloween-related events.

What are the specific penalties for assault in this context?

Researched assault penalties for giving laxatives to children:

Penalties vary significantly by state and the specific charge, but here's a general picture:

Assault / Aggravated Assault

• Simple assault (misdemeanor): Up to ~6 months in jail, plus fines. 
• Aggravated assault (felony, e.g., California Penal Code § 245): 2–4 years in state prison and/or a fine up to $10,000.
  Offenses against children are often treated as aggravated automatically.

Child-Specific Charges (often stacked on top of assault)

• Massachusetts (assault & battery on a child): Up to 2.5 years for the assault itself; up to 5 years if bodily injury results; up to 15 years for substantial bodily injury. 
• Alabama (chemical endangerment of a child, § 26-15-3.2): Class C felony (up to 10 years) even without harm; escalates to Class B (up to 20 years) for serious injury and Class A (life) for death. 
• Nevada: Administering a substance to another person without their knowledge is a Category B felony — 1 to 20 years in prison. 
• North Carolina (new 2025 statute): Exposing a child to a controlled substance is a Class A1 misdemeanor; if it causes serious physical injury, it can rise to Class G or E felony child abuse. 
• Minnesota (neglect/endangerment of a child): Up to 364 days and/or a $3,000 fine. 

Key Aggravating Factors

• The victim being a child increases penalties in nearly every state. 
• Intent (intentional vs. reckless) and whether actual injury occurred are the biggest drivers of sentencing severity. 
• Multiple children harmed would likely result in multiple counts and significantly longer sentences. 

Because this is a hypothetical spanning many possible statutes, the exact charge and penalty would depend entirely on the state and the facts (intent, harm caused, number of victims).

Is it wrong to chase women? (Youngstown Steel ad, 1964)

 

Does Ivory soap still float?

No, standard Ivory soap no longer floats. Procter & Gamble discontinued the original whipped formula in 2013, replacing it with a denser "skin care bar" that sinks in water. 

Historical Context: The original soap floated because air was whipped into the mixture during production, making it less dense than water. 

Reason for Change: P&G updated the formula to address customer complaints about skin dryness and because floating bars are no longer necessary for modern tub and shower use. 

Current Status: While vintage bars produced before 2013 will still float, any Ivory soap purchased today is formulated to sink. 

Kintsugi (金継ぎ)

Kintsugi (金継ぎ, "golden joinery"), also called kintsukuroi ("golden repair"), is the Japanese art of mending broken pottery by joining the fragments with urushi lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum, a method related to the maki-e technique. 

Kintsugi is the general concept of highlighting or emphasizing imperfections, visualizing mends and seams as an additive or an area to celebrate or focus on, rather than absence or missing pieces.

Origin: Closely tied to the chanoyu tea ceremony; legend traces it to shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa in the late 15th century, whose damaged Chinese tea bowl was returned from China repaired with ugly metal staples, prompting craftsmen to seek a more aesthetic repair. Kintsugi can relate to the Japanese philosophy of mushin (無心, "no mind"), which encompasses the concepts of non-attachment, acceptance of change, and fate as aspects of human life.

Philosophy: A tangible expression of wabi-sabi, it treats breakage and repair as part of an object's history rather than something to hide — the gilded seams are celebrated, making the piece more beautiful and valuable for having been broken. 

Process: Fragments are painstakingly reassembled over weeks to months using natural urushi lacquer (a toxic, poison-ivy-related tree sap that cures in humidity), then the cracks are highlighted with gold, leaving a distinctive pattern called keshiki ("scenery").

Materials: The key materials of kintsugi are ki urushi (pure urushiol-based lacquer), bengara urushi (iron red urushi), mugi urushi (a mixture of 50% ki urushi and 50% wheat flour), sabi urushi (a mixture of ki urushi with two kinds of clay), and a storage compartment referred to as a furo ("bath" in Japanese) where the mended pottery can rest at 90% humidity for between 2 days to 2 weeks as the urushi hardens. Traditionally, a wooden cupboard and bowls of hot water were used as the furo. Alternatively, thick cardboard boxes are sometimes used as the furo as they create a steady atmosphere of humidity or large vessels filled with rice, beans, or sand into which the mended pottery is submerged.

Daylily Garden (mengelji)

I think I mentioned to you last year that I'd started a daylily garden.

That project has spun wildly out of control... what began as a remedial effort to fill in the bare spots on my front lawn has taken over and now I have 4 beds and I'm working on a fifth behind the garage. 

 

I've even learned how not to kill the plants!  

Once some of them bloomed I went nuts, ever since I've been cramming  new ones into the available spaces.  I've lost count of what all I've planted at this point - and some are still a mystery because they haven't bloomed yet.  Now there's no front "lawn" remaining.  It's all pollinator friendly flowering mesic perennials.

Considering how many more new plants I've installed over the summer, I predict that starting next Spring the colors around here are going to be spectacular!

I'll also be planting tulips and Dutch iris bulbs in late fall, so as early as March things are really going to take off.--mengelji

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Do you have a beautiful garden? Flowers or vegetables or an orchard? Share it with me and the rest of the Bathmat Factory, please. And say something about it, too. 

Where's Gweedo? FIND HIM!!

(Double click to enlarge)

Would someone track down Gweedo, grab him by the scruff of the neck, and tell him that "Frog Applause" is not done! Don't stick a fork in FA just yet, mister. I just started the comic back up... as well as Frog Blog. I can't do anything if you are determined to take FA off your list of strips, but I hope you'll stick with me. I have vowed to make my comic strip lamer than ever! Stay around and (like a witness to a traffic accident) see me survive or crash and burn. (I know a lot of people who would prefer that I crash and burn...)
 

Old ads, comics, and more...

Hi Teresa,

Just wanted to say I was excited to see an ad for Bear Brand hosiery on the blog, as my grandfather worked for them as an engineer, and received patents for improvements to sock-making machinery, along with his brother.  Kismet! ---UltraLameFest2

Good thing the overlords and their AI moderation system can't touch me here.