OMAHA, Neb.
Local law enforcement officials are warning parents about the dangers of kids getting their hands on gummi bears soaked in alcohol.
"Kids are just taking gummi bears and putting alcohol in them and eating them, and they can take them into football games or school in little baggies and they look just like candy," said Joan McVoy, public education specialist for the Nebraska Regional Poison Center.
Known as "boozy bears," these pieces of candy could create serious medical issues like alcohol overdose poisoning, poison control officials said.
"It tastes good -- it's just candy -- it tastes good, and they keep doing it, and then we have an overdose alcohol poisoning; that's our biggest concern for our kids," Bellevue Police Department Capt. Herb Evers said.
Evers said the issue goes beyond the danger to teens and extends to small children.
"That 2- or 3-year-old who is walking, or at least pulling themselves up on couches and tables, getting into that candy -- how quick could we cause a death of a 2- or 3-year-old with just a little bit of alcohol," Evers said.
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