According to police, health officials have found a synthetic drug in the Christmas cakes that caused 40 people to fall ill with nausea, hallucinations and out-of-body experiences in California this week.

Traditionally, the baked good known as Rosca de Reyes is eaten at the end of the Christmas season and contains a tiny plastic Jesus baby, not a powerful psychedelic drug, but on Monday customers who ate cakes from Cholula's Bakery in Santa Ana began showing up at hospitals reporting the suspiciously similar symptoms.

After an initial investigation found traces of a cockroach infestation, the Orange County Health Agency shut down the bakery, but police are now launching a criminal investigation, with lab results confirming the presence of drugs expected in one to two weeks.

"There are hundreds of types of synthetic drugs," said a police spokesperson. "Hopefully they can isolate what exactly we're talking about."

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