Gustavo Arellano of OC Weekly writes that a Santa Police Department investigation determined that the drug used in a rosca de reyes cake that poisoned at least 40 people across Orange County was synthetic pot.

The police investigation matched the MacGruber-esque Orange County Register, who obtained a sample of the tainted bread and sent it off to a laboratory to beat the cops–because, you know, this is such a pressing issue to the Reg’s Mexican-hating audience. Specifically, the paper said that the ingredient was spice. Since this Mexican only knows booze, I will now consult the stoners on staff for further details.

The LA Times reported earlier that for years, Cholula’s Bakery has been part of the fabric of the dense immigrant neighborhood along the railroad tracks in Santa Ana.

There are colorful pastries for quinceañeras and graduations, trays of doughy Mexican sweet bread, and during the holidays the wreath-like three kings bread — rosca de reyes — is in constant demand.

But now the bakery has been closed and a criminal investigation opened after more than 40 customers reportedly became ill — some hallucinating, some doubled over in pain — after eating the holiday bread that celebrates the arrival of the Three Wise Men.

Police who have collected samples said the bread, which is distributed to other stores in Orange County and Long Beach, was laced with a synthetic form of marijuana. Health records show Cholula has a history of hygiene-related violations, and there are no immediate plans for reopening the business.

Still, the bakery’s closure has interrupted a long-running relationship with residents and workers along 17th Street, a boulevard jammed with taquerias, discount stores and auto body shops.

Before police announced Thursday that the contaminant had been identified as a “synthetic cannabinoid,” theories abounded on what had made so many people sick.

Ramirez said tests at the hospital where he went that evening revealed the presence of methamphetamine in his urine. The Orange County Register reported that it obtained a sample of the tainted bread and that a lab it hired determined it was “spice” — a powerful synthetic form of marijuana. And a Los Angeles-area food consultant, Jeff Nelken, suggested the culprit might even be the plastic Jesus figurine that is inserted into each of the cakes.