BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Candy shaped
like marijuana that's showing up on store shelves around the country won't get
kids 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.
Company president Andrew Kalan said
the candy, on the market six to nine months and in 1,000 stores around the
country, promotes the legalization 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 and Councilmember Demone
Smith displayed the candy, along with fake marijuana known as "K2"
that's also sold in some stores at Tuesday's Common Council meeting, where
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.
It appeared Pridgen's message had
gotten out by Thursday. A check of about a half-dozen stores in Buffalo, often
in impoverished neighborhoods 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-flavored candy
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, program supervisor at Renaissance House, a treatment center for
drug- and alcohol-addicted youth.
Charmaine Rosendary, 36, of Buffalo
shook her head when she saw a picture of the package.
"That's not right. It's just
promoting marijuana," she said while buying produce Friday at a Buffalo market.
She said she wouldn't allow her five teenagers, ages 15-19, to have it.
"I would not buy it or give them
money to buy it," she said. "It looks like weed."
It's not the first legal product to
come under fire.
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,
nickel-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 kids
under 18. The tobacco company, R.J. Reynolds, eventually shelved the
caricature.
A spokesman for the Office of
National Drug Control Policy said advocates for legalization who claim
marijuana is benign are not supported by science.
"Trivializing drug use is a
threat to public health because it erodes perceptions of harm among young
people," said Rafael Lemaitre.
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 flavor,
it doesn't claim to be pot in disguise or anything like that."
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
Photo Caption: In an Oct. 6, 2011 photo, Felicia Williams, Community Liason for Buffalo City Council member Darius Pridgen, holds packages of "Ring Pots" and "Potheads" candy in Buffalo, N.Y. The marijuana-shaped candy that’s showing up on store shelves around the country won’t get kids high, but aghast city leaders and anti-drug activists say the product and grocers carrying it represent a new low. (AP Photo/David Duprey)
