The State - News from March 29, 1987

Drug raids in the Sacramento area have turned up several sheets of children’s rub-on “tattoo” pictures of cartoon characters that were laced with enough LSD to be devastating to an unsuspecting user, police reported. “We’re concerned,” Police Lt. Jerry Ledbetter said, “because, if a child thinks one of these is a rub-on tattoo, the moisture on his hands alone could be enough to cause it to be absorbed into the skin. He could be on the way to a bad trip.” Ledbetter, head of the city-county narcotics task force, said that besides cartoon figures, the tattoo sheets also have featured Zodiac signs and other figures, each treated with a single drop of LSD, which is enough to cause hallucinations, severe vomiting, mood swings and changes in body temperature. He said the tattoo sheets were intended to disguise the drug for adult users, rather than to sell LSD to children.