ANTI-DRUG ADVOCATES TAKE AIM AT MARIJUANA-FLAVORED CANDY

ATLANTA - Marijuana-flavored lollipops with names such as Purple
Haze, Acapulco Gold and Rasta are showing up on the shelves of
convenience stores around the country, angering anti-drug advocates.

"It's nothing but dope candy, and that's nothing we need to be
training our children to do," said Georgia state Sen. Vincent Fort,
who has persuaded some convenience stores to stop selling the treats.

The confections are legal, because they are made with hemp oil, a
common ingredient in health food, beauty supplies and other household
products. The oil imparts a marijuana's grassy taste but not the high.

Merchants call them a harmless novelty for adults and insist they
advise stores to sell only to people 18 and older.

"There are more than 70 million people in the United States who smoke
marijuana. We're catering to the audience of people who are in that
smoking culture," said Rick Watkins, marketing director for Corona,
Calif.-based Chronic Candy, which uses the slogan "Every lick is like
taking a hit."

An Atlanta company called Hydro Blunts markets a similar product
under the name Kronic Kandy, which is made in the Netherlands.

New York City Councilwoman Margarita Lopez introduced a resolution
condemning the candies when she saw them at convenience stores near
schools in her district. She plans to hold hearings this summer.

At Junkman's Daughter, an Atlanta novelty shop, the suckers are sold
near the cash register from a bucket labeled with a marijuana leaf.

"We've got probably every weird kind of candy there is in here,"
owner Pam Majors said. "If it was anything you could get high off of,
we wouldn't carry it, obviously."