Drug Free Noble County

09/02/2026

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1391072499830441&id=100067831121330

THE CAT IN THE HAT TREND
More Than 10 Juveniles Arrested—and Counting

What is it?

People are posting creepy TikTok videos showing someone dressed as the Cat in the Hat walking through neighborhoods and claiming, “I’m coming for you next.”

Now kids are copying, editing, and reposting these videos to make it appear that the character was seen near their own schools or neighborhoods. Some posts name specific schools, students, or communities and include threatening messages.

More than 10 juveniles have reportedly been arrested nationwide in connection with these posts—and that number continues to grow.

Some kids believe they are protected because they didn’t create the original video. They simply reposted it or added their school’s initials. But sharing content that threatens people or causes panic can still lead to serious consequences, including school discipline, suspension, expulsion, a police investigation, or criminal charges.

Initials can also create confusion. A post threatening “MHS” could refer to hundreds of middle schools and high schools across the country. Kids may knowingly share a video intended for another school while causing fear at their own.

Please talk to your kids:

Do not create these videos.
Do not edit them.
Do not repost them.
Do not add school names, initials, or student names.
Report threatening content to an adult, the school, or law enforcement.

This reminds me of the creepy clown trend from years ago. It spread fear across the country, but most of the “clowns” were never found anywhere except behind a keyboard.

A prank stops being funny when schools are disrupted, families are frightened, and police resources are pulled away from real emergencies.

Happy Parenting,

Officer Gomez

09/01/2026

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1593861929193988&id=100057105894527

🚨 NON AGE RESTRICTED STORE AND NON AGE RESTRICTED STATE! PARENTS — WOULD YOU KNOW WHAT THIS CONTAINS AT FIRST GLANCE? 🚨
This was found being sold in a non-age-restricted store in a state where recreational MJ is not legal. Yet sitting inside the cooler is a brightly colored canned beverage labeled “Liquid Gummies” and “!!! SODA.”
And here is what should concern parents: the packaging looks like something you could grab out of a regular beverage cooler.
⚠️ LOOK CLOSER AT THE LABELING.
The front of these cans displays “100 MG SODA.” That is not something parents, educators, prevention professionals, or young people should mistake for an ordinary soda.
The colorful graphics, candy-style “Liquid Gummies” name, fruit imagery and soda-can format can make products like this especially important to recognize.
WHY SHOULD PARENTS PAY ATTENTION?
• THC is the primary intoxicating cannabinoid in canna-bis .
• A product being sold openly does not automatically mean it is appropriate or safe for youth.
• Hemp-derived THC products can sometimes be sold under a different legal framework than state-licensing
• Beverages can be particularly easy to overlook because they may resemble energy drinks, sodas or other specialty beverages.

And parents need to understand something else:
A “NON-LEGAL” STATE DOES NOT NECESSARILY MEAN YOU WON’T FIND INTOXICATING THC PRODUCTS ON STORE SHELVES.

👀 Start looking at the small print. Look for THC, Delta-8, Delta-9, THCA, hemp-derived THC and the number of milligrams listed on beverages and other products.
Most importantly, show your kids pictures like this and have the conversation before they encounter one themselves.
Would you have recognized this as a THC product if you saw it sitting in a cooler?

“YOU CAN’T STOP WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW”

08/28/2026

08/28/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1BmZiB7SU2/?mibextid=wwXIfr

THIS is exactly why PRODUCT PLACEMENT matters.

This photo was shared by a deputy out west, and one of the first things that caught my attention was what was sitting at the bottom of these “items” — children’s toys.
That should get our attention.
When products, brightly packaged adult products, or other potentially intoxicating products are displayed beside toys, candy, snacks, or other things designed to attract young people, we need to ask a bigger question: What are we normalizing for kids before they are even old enough to understand what these products are?

WHY IS THIS A PROBLEM?

Kids don’t have to purchase a product for retail placement to influence them. Repeated exposure can make an adult-only product appear ordinary, familiar and socially acceptable. Bright colors, flavors, inexpensive products, cartoon-like graphics and placement around things kids already want can further blur that line.

COMMUNITIES NEED TO START LOOKING AT THE RETAIL ENVIRONMENT

Depending on state law and local laws, authorities, cities, counties and states should explore:
Retail licensing requirements and meaningful penalties for violations.
Requiring covered adult products to be behind the counter or in secured areas.
Establishing separation between adult products and toys, candy, children’s beverages and other youth-oriented merchandise.
Examining advertising and display restrictions, including height, location and visibility.
Limiting self-service access to age-restricted products.
Reviewing retailer density and how close certain retailers can operate to schools, parks and youth facilities.
Conducting regular retail/community scans to document what kids actually see when they enter stores.
Strengthening retailer education, employee training and age-verification compliance.
Bringing photos and local scan results before city councils, county commissions, health boards and state policymakers.
Some jurisdictions have already used approaches such as keeping products out of view, restricting self-service displays, regulating retailer density and limiting advertising near registers or in store windows.

PARENTS — TALK TO YOUR KIDS ABOUT WHAT THEY SEE

Don’t assume your child knows the difference between a toy, candy, energy product and an age-restricted product simply because we recognize it.
Ask them: “What do you think that is?” You may be surprised by the answer.
Teach kids to look beyond colorful packaging. Talk about these devices and other emerging products before someone offers them one.
Most importantly, parents and professionals need to stay educated because the products are changing much faster than many of our conversations are. Product placement matters. Normalization matters.

YOU CAN’T STOP WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW!

08/26/2026

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1588791089701072&id=100057105894527

⚠️ AT FIRST GLANCE… WOULD YOU THINK THIS IS JUST ROOT BEER?

The colors. The root beer barrels. The words “Root Beer.” The tall beverage-style can. At first glance, this could easily look like a flavored soda, energy drink, or specialty root beer.

But look closer: it contains KRATOM.

🌿 WHAT IS KRATOM?
Kratom comes from the leaves of the Mitragyna speciosa tree. Its primary compounds interact with opioid receptors in the body. Depending on the amount consumed, kratom can produce stimulant-like effects at lower amounts and more sedating or opioid-like effects at higher amounts. Kratom is now sold in numerous forms, including powders, capsules, extracts, gummies, shots—and increasingly, ready-to-drink beverages like the one pictured here.

🏫 WHY DOES THIS MATTER FOR SCHOOLS and HOUSEHOLDS?

Products like this show exactly why education and product recognition matter. A staff member walking through a cafeteria, parking lot, sporting event, or classroom could see this can and assume it is simply a root beer or energy drink.

Some things to consider:

• Beverage-style packaging can make the product appear ordinary.
• Familiar flavors like root beer may make the product seem less concerning at first glance.
• The word KRATOM can be much less noticeable than the branding and flavor.
• These products may look completely different from the traditional bags of kratom powder many professionals were originally taught to recognize.
• New products and packaging can change faster than school policies and staff training.
• Simply telling staff to “watch for kratom” isn’t enough if they don’t know what today’s kratom products actually look like. You cannot identify what you have never been taught to recognize.

As emerging products continue to be packaged to resemble everyday beverages, candy, supplements, and other familiar consumer products, visual education becomes increasingly important for educators, school resource officers, prevention professionals, administrators, parents, and communities.

Products change, packaging changes, trends change therefore our education has to change with them.

YOU CAN’T STOP WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW.

— Tall Cop Says Stop

08/17/2026

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1581261147120733&id=100057105894527

📱 IS IT A PHONE… OR SOMETHING ELSE?

At first glance, you might think this is a small cell phone or smart device as it has many of the same functions

During Tall Cop scans, I continue to see nic distribution devices (aka…) designed with features that make them look and function more like everyday electronics. The product pictured advertises 35,000 puf, 5% nic, Bluetooth connectivity, and multiple phone-like functions.

📲 MORE THAN JUST A DEVICE

According to the packaging, features include:

● 📞 Phone/call connectivity

● 💬 Messaging-style functions

● 🎮 Games

● 🎵 Music

● 🔵 Bluetooth connectivity

● 📱 A color screen with app-style icons

For parents, educators and other professionals, this creates another identification challenge. Sitting on a desk, tucked into a backpack or held in someone’s hand, would you immediately recognize what this product actually is? Especially if you are not familiar with stuff like this.

🔎 TOP 3 WAYS TO QUICKLY IDENTIFY THESE PRODUCTS

1️⃣ Look for the mouthpiece.
Even when the body resembles a phone, watch for a mouthpiece from the top. Don’t let the screen fool you. Games, music, Bluetooth, calling features and colorful icons can make the product appear to be a miniature phone or entertainment device. The technology itself can become part of the camouflage

2️⃣ Look at the size and thickness.
These products are generally much smaller and thicker than a typical smartphone.

3️⃣ Check for certain common markings.
Packaging may display 5% NIC, government warnings, # of puffs which has become a big selling point. I am seeing numbers today that far exceed what I saw just five years ago. Watch for extremely high puff counts. This package advertises an incredible 35,000.

FINALLY

🥭 FLAVORS + LOW PRICE POINTS MATTER

The pictured product is labeled Mango and was marked at approximately $21. That combination of sweet or fruit-style flavors, technology and a low price point is not good.

The products are changing. Our education and identification skills have to change also. Prevention starts with education.

TOU CANT STOP WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW. — Tall Cop Says Stop

08/13/2026

https://share.newsbreak.com/jablvyzl

Daily cannabis use is surging as potency quadruples. An ER doctor explains the real risks: addiction, withdrawal, psychosis, heart disease, and lung cancer

08/11/2026

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1576389100941271&id=100057105894527

08/11/2026

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1575609397685908&id=100057105894527

🚨 BACK-TO-SCHOOL ALERT: REDUCED PRICE POINTS 🚨

As I do my Tall Cop scans during this back to school time frame, there is another trend parents, educators, SROs, and prevention professionals need to have on their radar: the falling price of these disposable products.

Take a close look at this photo from one of my scans: 35,000 dose disposables advertised at $18 each—or TWO FOR $30.

That matters.

💰 WHY ARE SOME OF THESE PRODUCTS GETTING SO CHEAP?

One possible explanation is simply too much product chasing customers. Stores and distributors can become overstocked, leading to aggressive discounts, multi-buy promotions, clearance pricing, and competition between brands.

Other factors may include:

An extremely crowded disposable market with brands competing for shelf space.
High-puff-count products competing on price and perceived value.
Frequent introduction of new brands and models, which can make yesterday’s inventory harder to move.
Promotions such as “2 for” pricing that dramatically reduce the cost per device.
Flavors and packaging designed to stand out in an already crowded marketplace.
Older inventory being discounted as retailers make room for newer products.
And from a prevention standpoint, lower prices can reduce one of the barriers to youth access. An $18 product—or $15 each when purchasing two—is very different from a product costing $25, $30, or more.

👀 PARENTS & SCHOOLS: KNOW WHAT YOU’RE LOOKING FOR

Today’s va**ng devices don’t necessarily resemble past substances. Watch for small brightly colored electronic devices, unusually sweet/fruity odors, charging cords or devices that don’t seem to belong to anything else, empty packaging, and product names or flavors using words such as “ice,” “gummy,” or candy/fruit terminology.

🧠 NI****NE ISN’T HARMLESS FOR KIDS

Ni****ne is highly addictive, and adolescents are particularly vulnerable because their brains are still developing.

Ni****ne dependence and withdrawal can also involve cravings, irritability, restlessness, difficulty concentrating, sleep problems, and feelings of anxiety or depression.

🎒 BACK TO SCHOOL MEANS BACK TO EDUCATION

We cannot assume students don’t know about these products simply because adults haven’t seen them before.

Parents need education.
Teachers need education.
Administrators need education.
SROs need education.
And students need prevention messaging BEFORE the product shows up at school.

Prevention starts with EDUCATION—and education starts with knowing what’s actually on the shelves in our communities.
YOU CAN’T STOP WHAT YOU DONT KNOW
— Tall Cop Says Stop