JUST SAY NO TO CANNABIS CANDY, SUPERVISOR SAYS

Among the products confiscated by DEA agents during a raid on the
Oakland-Emeryville border Thursday were these marijuana-laced "pot
tarts," with packaging made to spoof the Kellogg's toaster pastry
product. (D. Ross Cameron - STAFF) Alameda County Supervisor Nate
Miley wants to protect your kids from Chronic and Hydro and Sticky Icky Buds.

All three are part of a line of marijuana- and hemp-flavored candy
that Miley wants banned. The Board of Supervisors is set to discuss a
ban on the sale of such products today.

The candy improperly influences young teens and adults and its only
use is to promote illegal behavior, the proposed ordinance says. "The
inappropriate and/or mistaken use of marijuana can have negative
health effects," a staff report signed by Miley said, and it is a
gateway to additional drug use.

Miley did not return calls seeking comment Monday. But the owner of
Chronic Candy, the Corona-based company that claims to have
originated the candy, says Miley is just blowing political smoke.

The company's Web site may say "every lick is like taking a hit," but
there's nothing illegal in the lollipops, gumdrops or chocolate the
company DEA Special Agent Javier Pena reads the ingredient list on a
siezed package of marijuana-laced candy found in a raid on a pot farm
on the Oakland-Emeryville border. (D. Ross Cameron - STAFF FILE)
sells, Chronic Candy's owner, Tony Van Pelt, said.

Some of the candy has hemp oil in it - which is not illegal - but
there's no THC, which is the active ingredient in marijuana. He
argued that his candy, like liquor-flavored chocolates, Las Vegas or
Playboy magazine, is for adults. His Web site has a disclaimer that
it is for adults only.

And besides.

"People don't go to marijuana for the taste," Van Pelt said.

Van Pelt started his company in 2000, after Advertisementfinding
pot-flavored candy on a trip to Holland with his parents. He sells it
all over the country, particularly on concert tours, he said.

Pot-loving rapper Snoop Dogg and celebutante Paris Hilton have
endorsed the candy, but politicians aren't too high on it. The candy
has been banned in Chicago and Suffolk County, N.Y., and is facing a
possible ban in Georgia, Van Pelt said. Other states also are
reportedly considering bans.

Van Pelt said he has changed his Web site and product packaging to
make it clear the candy is not for kids. And he said he's happy to
talk to parents or politicians who take issue with his product,
though he's befuddled as to how anyone in the state that passed a
medical marijuana law could be concerned about his product.

He said parents could use it as a tool to teach their children about
the dangers of drug use.

"Use Chronic Candy to have that conversation at home about drugs,"
Van Pelt said. "Say why this product isn't for us as a family."