Pubdate: Tue, 23 Jan 2001 Source: Daily Herald (IL) Copyright: 2001 The Daily Herald Company Contact: P.O. Box 280, Arlington Heights, IL 60006-0280 Fax: (847) 427-1301 Website: http://www.dailyherald.com/ Author: Beth Sneller ROSELLE POLICE POUNCE ON HERBAL SMOKES They taste and smell like marijuana. There is even a picture of a cannabis leaf on the package. But Ecstacy-brand Cannabis Free cigarettes are, as their name claims, cannabis-free. They don't have marijuana in them, nor do they contain nicotine or tobacco. They are herbal cigarettes. So why, then, is the word "cannabis" even included in the name of the product? That's exactly what Roselle school and police officials want to know. They're outraged the cigarettes are sold in town and fear the product glorifies drug use. Detective Richard Hoffman, the new police consultant at Lake Park High School East Campus, first heard about the cigarettes from a mother who works at Lincoln Academy, an alternative school in Roselle. She told him a couple of area stores had begun selling Cannabis Free and Ecstacy cigarettes, products distributed by the Temple of Ecstacy Corp. in Beverly Hills, Calif. Although it is illegal to sell these cigarettes to minors, Hoffman and his colleague, Detective Tony Klotka - another DARE officer - say teenagers find ways to buy them. They're concerned that if young people are caught with the cigarettes, they will use the excuse that they don't contain any tobacco or marijuana. "That's the cop-out for kids," Hoffman said. Klotka said some youngsters might buy the product, thinking they're getting real drugs. Temple of Ecstacy President Benjamin Bright said both Ecstacy and Cannabis Free cigarettes contain only five exotic herbs - damiana, wild lettuce, catnip, passion flower and mint. He said the name "Cannabis Free" is not meant to mislead users into thinking they are smoking marijuana. "It's more of a joke," he said. "It was just for fun, in the beginning." Police in other DuPage County communities such as Naperville and Lombard say they have never heard of nor had a problem with the Temple of Ecstacy Corp.'s products. But Hoffman and Klotka aren't laughing. "They're making big bucks off this," Klotka said. "I think it's disgusting that they would be selling these things to our kids and deceiving them into thinking they were doing these drugs." Yet, despite the police officers' concerns, J&Z Sales owner Michael Caruso doesn't think teen-agers even know about the cigarettes. The Roselle store has stocked the products for three months, and they've been sitting virtually untouched on the shelf. "Nobody buys them," Caruso said. "It's got my money tied up. I want to give them back to the girl who sold them to me." He said he has only sold four cartons of Cannabis Free cigarettes so far, and two of those four customers bought the cigarettes so they could fool their co-workers into thinking they were smoking marijuana. Several Lake Park students interviewed Friday said they had never heard of the cigarettes and didn't think teens would buy them. "They wouldn't lure me in," said Dana Bele, 17, a student at the school's west campus. Melissa Stenzel, 16, a student at the east campus, said that despite the product's label, she would worry the cigarettes contained something harmful. "If I saw something like that in the store, I wouldn't trust them," she said. However, Stenzel said certain groups of kids might think the cigarettes are cool. Caruso said he doubts herbal cigarettes are a status symbol among kids who smoke. "I think Marlboro is more of a status symbol," he said. Last spring, the state General Assembly passed a law banning bidis, tiny herbal Indian cigarettes that look like marijuana joints and taste and smell like candy. The much publicized legislation went into effect this month. Hoffman, Klotka and Lake Park East Campus Principal Ed Wardzala want to make sure Roselle parents are aware of Ecstacy's products as well. "I don't see the naming of these products as some harmless joke," Wardzala said. "It's reinforcing drug usage." Hoffman said he plans to make area middle school principals and PTOs aware of the cigarettes, so they can let parents know about these potential dangers for their children. "I don't want these to end up in the hands of kids," he said. Wardzala said he would like to see Cannabis Free and Ecstacy cigarettes leave Roselle stores for good. "These cigarettes are capitalism at its worst," he said. Daily Herald staff writer Elisabeth Mistretta contributed to this report. - --- MAP posted-by: Andrew