Thousands of school children and their parents were alerted to the non-existent drug that police claimed was being handed out at the school gates.
The over-eager officer had sent an email to headteachers across West Oxfordshire after reading a hoax claiming two children had been given the drug in sweet form by strangers.
The fanciful web-warning added that these two children had been hospitalised after taking strawberry meth - sweets laced with the illegal drug crystal meth.
Chief Inspector Dennis Evernden of Thames Valley Police said: "We would like to apologise for any unnecessary concern that we may have caused to schools or parents by sending the warning out about a drug that proved a hoax.
"The officer should have double checked before taking this action, which he did take with the best intentions. We will be making sure that this does not happen again."
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