Police: Hershey Candy Looks Like Drugs

[johnnymk]

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/1-12012007-1449296.html

http://media.phillyburbs.com/2007/12/01/0c1a854b-8e4a-436c-97ca-42eae6d91618.jpg

HARRISBURG, Pa. - New mint packets being sold by The Hershey Co. look nearly identical to the tiny heat-sealed bags used to sell illegal powdered drugs like crack, heroin and cocaine and glorify the drug trade, a Philadelphia police official said.

Ice Breakers Pacs, nickel-sized dissolvable pouches with a powdered sweetener inside, hit store shelves in November. The packets, which come in blue and orange plastic slide-up cases, are similar enough to drug packets that a child familiar with the candy could mistakenly swallow a heat-sealed bag of drugs, Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector William Blackburn told the Philadelphia Daily News for an article published Friday.

"It glorifies the drug trade," he said. "There's really no reason that a product like this should be on the shelf."


A spokesman for the company, based in Hershey, Pa., pointed out that each pouch , made by two dissolvable mint strips , bears the Ice Breakers logo.

"It is not intended to simulate anything," said spokesman Kirk Saville.

Saville would not directly respond to questions about whether Hershey has plans to change the product's appearance or whether anyone in law enforcement or inside the company has previously raised a concern about it.

[JackHammer]

I agree with the cop.

[TofuNinja]

lol yeah... if I saw a kid with that at school....sheesh hahaha

[GraingerGuy]

Oh...my....goodness. I guess Hershey's is trying to expand into another market here....:)

[oblongmelon]

hehe..I should have stopped in Hershey on my way home today and picked some up at Chocolate world!

[uncledaddy]

I uh,......wouldn't know what drug packs look like. :halo: :D

[ShawnLee]

To be fair, uh, I would buy some and I wouldn't have any intent for illegality. I mean, I love listerine dissolving strips, and like the idea of using that to pop mint too.

[DarkFury]

Crack for kids...

What will they think up next!!!! :heh:


Dime bag anyone?

[Maarchk]

Umm, if a kid swallows this, he gets a treat. When he swallows a plastic bag of drugs, i imagine he'll know something is wrong. or he'll swallow it and his druggie sister will force feed him Milk of magnesia until she reclaims her property. I think its not too big of a long term issue.

[redcolours]

ha ha! i think its funny!
people should lighten up.

my take on drugs: if kids are taught correctly AT HOME to start with, they wouldnt be stupid enough to try illicit drugs, or be weak enough for peer pressure, or be dumb enough to not know the difference.

drugs are bad, and those packets do look like the packets most drug dealers use for packaging (just watch those HBO documentaries), but you have to be really stupid to mistake these mint strips for the real thing.

especially if youre a cop.

now where can i buy these mints at?

[Jeffbx]

I don't think it's the confusion between this & the real thing that's the issue, rather that it could be construed as a glorification of the drug trade by making these available.

We've seen this in the past with candy cigarettes, alcohol made to look like kids drinks, etc. I'm sure Hershey doesn't mean to get kids hooked on drugs or anything, but it kinda give the impression that, hey, these little packets of white powder are fun and good to have.

[Thesifer]

Speaking of the "glorification" do they still have "candy cigarettes" ? Or the Beef Jerky that comes in the little Dip Can?

[BigJon]

Speaking of the "glorification" do they still have "candy cigarettes" ? Or the Beef Jerky that comes in the little Dip Can?
I think some places still sell "candy cigarettes" that have the painted on red tips...plus I saw some kids with a candy that puffed out "smoke" (powdered sugar of some sort) like a cigarette...though most companies have removed the red tip and call them "candy sticks" now.

I think you can still get the jerky "dip" cans. I swear I saw them last week at the store.

I do agree, however, that this product (whether it was intended or not) kind of glorifies drug use. It'd be like selling giant chocolate desert eagle handguns to kids.

[Thesifer]

I think some places still sell "candy cigarettes" that have the painted on red tips...plus I saw some kids with a candy that puffed out "smoke" (powdered sugar of some sort) like a cigarette...though most companies have removed the red tip and call them "candy sticks" now.

I think you can still get the jerky "dip" cans. I swear I saw them last week at the store.

I do agree, however, that this product (whether it was intended or not) kind of glorifies drug use. It'd be like selling giant chocolate desert eagle handguns to kids.


Now those would be cool. :) Dark Chocolate.

[Airencracken]

http://www.boingboing.net/images/_images_photos2005_nb20050806a1a.jpg

Japanese nonalcoholic beer for kids.

[Jeffbx]

I think they have kid's beer in Germany too - I seem to recall my wife was ridiculed by her co-workers for ordering it when she went there some time ago.

[Prngr44]

I want my bubblegum cigarettes back!