OPPONENTS IN SLOW BURN OVER POT-FLAVORED CANDY

Buzz Bars and Ganja Pops claim to offer a different kind of trip to
the candy shop, and some people think that the marijuana-flavored
sweets need to be weeded out of stores.

In a budding market, manufacturers such as the Mary Jane Candy Co.
are using hemp essential oil to make Pot Suckers lollipops, Buzz Bar
chocolates, Icky Sticky Nuggets, Chronic Candy and other products
with a knowing wink and nudge to illegal drugs. Think "Charlie and
the Chocolate Factory" meets Cheech and Chong.

Although the slogans on their wrappers claim "Every lick is like
taking a hit," the candy contains no THC, the chemical in marijuana
that has psychoactive effects. The only buzz you can get from this
stuff is a sugar high.

Some law enforcement officials say the candy glamorizes drug use and
should be rolled off shelves.

"It amazes me that they'd come up with something like that,"
Charleston County Sheriff Al Cannon said. "This is to me just a
subtle type of advertising for drug use."

Despite disclaimers that the candy is for those over the age of 18,
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has said he wants a
state ban on Pot Suckers.He called the candy "a gateway product" that
"glamorizes drugs for children."

City councils in Chicago and New York and local governments in
Michigan, New Jersey and Georgia have enacted or are considering
similar bans. So far, no one in Charleston seems to be pushing to get
rid of this crop of candy.

Locally, Pot Suckers and Buzz Bars are sold at Spencer Gifts in
Northwoods Mall. The novelty chain has to get a new supply in North
Charleston every week because the product is moving so well. David
Snyder, a Spencer employee, said the store has no plans to stop
selling the sweets.

"I don't know if it's a better alternative, but I wouldn't take it
out," Snyder said. He said the candy might serve as a drug
substitute. "In some ways they are, but in some ways kids do them, so
then they don't do pot."

Last month, New Jersey distributor ICUP suspended sales of the
green-colored Pot Suckers. Steven Trachtenberg says the rash of bans
that have sent his business up in smoke "borders on ridiculous."

"Is it a novelty? Yes. Was it meant to encourage kids to use drugs?
Absolutely not," he said.

Cannon said he has heard not a cry for a ban on pot-flavored candy --
there's enough of the real stuff out there to keep law enforcement
officers busy. But the sheriff said even if the candy won't get
anyone high, it should -- and some say it really does -- leave a bad
taste in your mouth.

"It shows one of the downsides of capitalism and the market.
..People are out there willing to do anything to make a buck," Cannon said.