I feel your pain. My wife and I were discussing the awfulness of popcorn ceilings and I recalled my dad always adding sand to interior paint to create a textured surface. His intent was to soften shadows. My wife had never heard of people adding sand to paint. Growing up, it just was so I didn't really think about it. I decided to see if it was a common practice and it is common enough that Homeowner Hell sells paint appropriate sand. In digging further, I came across post after post warning people that sand CONTAINS SILICA! and was therefore super dangerous. In my line of work, I routinely meet people with silicosis. None of them got it from sand (except for the folks using sandblasters and even there, other media tends to be used more than sand).
I must admit that I'm somewhat torn on the issue of human stupidity. If fear of sand reduces the number of people on the beach when I'm there, it could be an okay outcome.