WEIRD NEWS 12/31/2018 01:43 pm ET

Louisiana Police Sucker Media With Offer To ‘Test’ Meth For Zika

The Harahan Police Department’s faux Facebook post was an “attempt at humor.”

By David Lohr

Reporters, not drug users, apparently were the only ones gullible enough to fall for an unoriginal hoax by police in Louisiana.

The Harahan Police Department on Saturday made a pretty obvious tongue-in-cheek post to its Facebook page offering to test methamphetamine for signs of the Zika virus.

The post, which went viral over the weekend, reads:

***WARNING: *** If you have recently purchased meth in any area of Louisiana it may be contaminated with the Zika Virus. Please bring all of it to your local Police Department and they will test it for free. If you’re not comfortable coming to us, an officer will be glad to come to you and test your Meth in the privacy of your home. Please spread the word! We’re available 24/7/365. Be Safe! ~Ofc Moody

The post has amassed more than 800 comments and 5,000 shares. The majority of commenters got the intended humor, with one person jokingly commenting, “I’ll bring my pound right over,” and another saying, “Even meth heads aren’t that stupid.”

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Still, at least three Louisiana media outlets ― Lafayette’s KLFY-TV, New Orleans’s WVUE-TV, and The Advocate, which is based in Baton Rouge ― apparently took the post seriously.

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