Marijuana-shaped sweets causes uproar

2011-10-11 11:12

New York - Sweets shaped like marijuana that's showing up on store shelves around America won't get children high, but aghast city leaders and anti-drug activists say the product and grocers carrying it represent a new low.

"We're already dealing with a high amount of drug abuse and drug activity and trying to raise children so they don't think using illegal substances is acceptable," said City Councilmember Darius Pridgen.

"So to have a licensed store sell candy to kids that depicts an illegal substance is just ignorant and irresponsible."

The "Pothead Ring Pots", "Pothead Lollipops" and bagged candy are distributed to retail stores by the novelty supply company Kalan LP of the Philadelphia suburb of Lansdowne. It also wholesales online for $1 for a lollipop and $1.50 for a package of three rings.

Irate parent

Company president Andrew Kalan said the candy, on the market for six to nine months and in 1 000 stores around the US, promotes the legalisation of marijuana.

"It does pretty well," he said.

"This is the first complaint I've heard," Kalan said, "and people are usually not shy. I'm actually surprised this is the first."

An irate parent brought the candy to Pridgen's attention, hoping the city could apply pressure and get it out of stores.

Pridgen said he'd refuse to grant licenses to stores in his district that planned to sell the merchandise and would seek to embarrass stores that carry it. The synthetic marijuana is sold as incense but is smoked.

Synthetic marijuana typically involves dried plant material sprayed with one of several chemical compounds. The products contain organic leaves coated with chemicals that provide a marijuana-like high when smoked.

The Drug Enforcement Administration recently used its emergency powers to outlaw five chemicals found in synthetic marijuana.

Message gets out

It appeared Pridgen's message had gotten out by Thursday. A check of about six stores in Buffalo, often in impoverished neighbourhoods where real drugs are a festering problem, turned up none of the controversial candy.

The bags of "Pothead Sour Gummy Candy", and lollipops shaped like marijuana leaves appear to be a recent addition to the inventory of some corner stores.

The sour apple-flavoured sweets contains nothing illegal, but with its marijuana leaf, the word "Legalize" and a joint-smoking, peace sign-waving user on the packaging, critics say it's not only in poor taste but an invitation to try the real thing.

"It's the whole idea that it promotes drugs and the idea that, here, you'll look cool if you use this - which is what gets these kids in trouble in the very first place," said Jodie Altman, programme supervisor at Renaissance House, a treatment centre for drug- and alcohol-addicted youth.

It's not the first legal product to come under fire.

Looking at the marketplace

In 2008, the Hershey Co stopped making Ice Breakers Pacs in response to criticism that the mints looked too much like illegal street drugs. Police in Philadelphia complained that the packets, coin-sized dissolvable pouches with a powdered sweetener inside, closely resembled tiny heat-sealed bags used to sell powdered street drugs.

Candy cigarettes and fruity or energy drink-infused alcoholic beverages have been criticized for targeting young people. And in 1997, the Federal Trade Commission said the iconic Joe Camel cigarette ads and packaging violated federal law because they appealed to children under 18. The tobacco company, RJ Reynolds, eventually shelved the caricature.

Kalan said his company carries several products with the marijuana leaf and "legalize" message to accommodate growing demand in the movement to legalize marijuana.

"We don't advocate for a political position. We just look at what the marketplace wants and respond to it," the wholesaler said.

"It's just candy... It's sour apple flavour, it doesn't claim to be pot in disguise or anything like that."

- SAPA