Lollipops

"We've got none left."
The shopkeeper was apologetic for good reason, it was costing him money. The new lollipops were so popular. Kids wanted them all the time and now almost everywhere was sold out. Those shops that still had them had vastly inflated their prices and folk were still buying them. They would seemingly pay anything for these lollipops.
As the kids left the shopkeeper wondered what was in the lollipops. What made them so addictive?
A week later the first reported cases of drug overdoses were reported.
Deaths of thousands of children did nothing to halt the sale of the lollipops.
Within six months the population had halved and the lollipop company became the most powerful force in the land.