MILEY: CANDY WHETS KIDS' APPETITES FOR WEED

Alameda County Considering Ban on Hemp-Flavored Treats

Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley wants to protect your children
from Chronic and Hydro and Sticky Icky Buds.

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

The candy improperly influences youths 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 says it 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 nothing illegal is in the lollipops, gumdrops or chocolate,
Chronic Candy's owner, Tony Van Pelt, said.

Some of the candy has hemp oil in it - which is not illegal - but
there is no THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. Van Pelt argued
that his candy, such as liquor-flavored chocolates, Las Vegas or
Playboy magazine, is for adults.

And besides, "people don't go to marijuana for the taste," Van Pelt
said. Van Pelt started his company in 2000, after finding
pot-flavored candy on a trip to Holland with his parents. He sells it
throughout the country, particularly on concert tours, he said.
Rapper Snoop Dogg and celebutante Paris Hilton have endorsed the
candy, but politicians are not 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.

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 is happy to talk to parents or politicians about his
products, although 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."