Parents Outraged At Blatant Appeal To Children
In duplicating a fake substitute for a real thing…how far is too far? A candy maker is marketing marijuana shaped candy to children.
Is this a harmless ploy to get children to grow up thinking that marijuana use is widely legal and accepted?
The ‘Pothead Ring Pots,’ ‘Pothead Lollipops’ and bagged candy are distributed to retail stores by a novelty supply company.
It also wholesales online for $1 for a lollipop and $1.50 for a package of three rings.
The candy, which is shaped like marijuana leaves, is leaving lawmakers with a bad taste in their mouths.
‘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 Buffalo, New York, 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 president of the company that distributes the candy, Andrew Kalan, said: ‘This is the first complaint I’ve heard.
‘And people are usually not shy. I’m actually surprised this is the first.’
The candy, produced by Kalan’s Pennsylvania-based Kalan LP, has been on shelves for the last six to nine months in 1,000 stores around the country.
The sweets promote the legalization of marijuana.
The sweets are largely available in impoverished neighborhoods where drug-use is already a problem. Allowing children to have repeat interactions with an illegal substance under the guise of a “candy” could make them more likely to try out the drug.
‘Trivializing drug use is a threat to public health because it erodes perceptions of harm among young people,’ said Rafael Lemaitre, a spokesman for the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
Oftentimes, this kind of MESS only ends up in poor, black and brown communities. I’m sure we wouldn’t see candy marijuana plants in a store near the home of your favorite politician.
I’m just saying.
Do you think that these types of products should be allowed in stores that allow children?
