Pubdate: Fri, 17 Feb 2006
Source: Macon Telegraph (GA)
Copyright: 2006 The Macon Telegraph Publishing Company
Contact:  http://www.macontelegraph.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/667
Author: Doug Gross, Associated Press

SENATE BILL WOULD BAN 'POT CANDY'

ATLANTA - Candy that's flavored like marijuana would be outlawed 
under a bill proposed in the state Senate.

The effort, spearheaded by Sen. Vincent Fort, D-Atlanta, is one of 
several throughout the nation targeting increasingly popular candies 
marketed with drug-inspired names like Purple Haze and advertised 
with slogans such as "Every Lick is Like Taking a Hit."

Marketers call the treats a harmless novelty. But anti-drug advocates 
say they glorify drug use and encourage children to smoke pot.

"Should a 9-year-old be able to go into a store and get a bag of 
chips, a soda pop and some dope candy?" said Fort, who announced his 
bill Thursday in the parking lot of an Atlanta convenience store 
where he said he bought the candy the day before. "That's ridiculous."

Fort's bill, which was co-signed by several other Democrats and at 
least one Republican in Georgia's GOP-controlled Senate, bans the 
sale of any "marijuana or hemp flavored candy" in the state and calls 
for a penalty of up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine for the 
second offense.

Companies that sell the candies say the lollipops, gum drops and 
other treats are geared toward adults and that they advise retailers 
to sell the candy only to people 18 and older.

They say the candies are flavored with legal hemp oil, which gives 
them the oily, grassy taste of marijuana.

"It has the flavor and essence, without any of the pharmacological 
ingredients," Tony Sosa, whose Atlanta-based Hydro Blunts company 
sells the candies, said in June.

Sosa was unable to be reached by telephone on Thursday.

Some hemp advocates disagree with Sosa, claiming the candy is made 
with oil from the cannabis plant's flowers that may be illegal.

The Web site for Corona, Calif.-based Chronic Candy acknowledges 
using "hemp essential oil" in its products, but maintains that the 
oil is legal.

Tom Durkin, a Chicago attorney who represents Chronic Candy, was 
unable to be reached Thursday for comment.

Neither the U.S. Food and Drug Administration nor the U.S. Drug 
Enforcement Administration has reported testing the candies.

Critics say that, regardless of its content, the candy makes using 
drugs seem more attractive to children who may not have tried 
marijuana themselves. The Chronic Candy Web site features photographs 
of celebrities, from rapper Snoop Dogg to actor Verne Troyer, eating 
the candy or wearing clothing advertising the company.

"They not only sell the candy," said community activist and former 
Atlanta Councilman Derrick Boazman, "they sell a drug-induced lifestyle."

Fort and Boazman were joined in the convenience store parking lot by 
about a half-dozen people holding signs that read "Stop Chronic 
Candy." The name is a reference to street slang for marijuana.

An employee inside the store, who did not give his name, said the 
shop stopped selling the lollipops in the past few days.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman