Well yeah, it's not the idea itself I don't like, it's that it was...well, oatmeal. Of all things, oatmeal? And if I remember right, it wasn't even deadly to them at first, it was like crack to them right? They got addicted and got too used to it, and then it was deadly. The whole thing just reeked of an anti-drug message to me, and while I do think it's a good message, it was just too preachy for my tastes. Maybe that's just me though.
Here's another idea, I just had it while reading/replying to the Cassie thread - maybe the re-write could kind of spin into it's own thing later on in, if it gets that far? It'd still keep to the same central plot, but have things work out differently, small stuff at first, that makes the plot more streamlined and believable in some parts that jumped the shark, so that ultimately we get an entirely different ending. I'm all for that, cuz we'd still have the original books for the old version of the story.