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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Angry mum protests at sweets with drug name
Wharfedale and Airedale Observer
Friday 17 Feb 2006 A nurse who has worked with the victims of drug abuse is calling for action to ban `cannabis pastilles' after she saw them on sale in a Yeadon shop. And Trading Standards officers are appealing to shopkeepers to act responsibly in the wake of complaints about the sale of `cannabis' sweets. The pastilles, which a mother said she saw on sale in Yeadon, contain hemp flower oil. And although they have none of the active ingredients of the drug, there are fears that they could be giving out the wrong message to impressionable youngsters. Because no offence is being committed, police and Trading Standards officers are powerless to take action against shops which are selling the sweets. But the nurse, who has seen first hand the damage cause by cannabis use, is urging the public to put pressure on retailers to stop stocking the sweets. Practice nurse Lynn Cusack said she was appalled to see the pastilles on sale at The Chocolate Shop on Yeadon Town Street - but she says she was met with hostility when she raised the matter with the retailer. She has now complained to Trading Standards officers and the police, but has been told as long as the sweets contain no active ingredients their sale is not illegal. Mrs Cusack, 41, herself a mother of two young boys, has worked with young people whose lives have been shattered by cannabis use. She said: "I am aware these honey pastilles contain none of the illegal canabilloids but only a small 0.03mg of hemp flower oil. These children are impressionable, and not all of them will understand that this product is only sugar and honey, no different to other boiled sweets." She stressed: "What is the world coming to when a retailer can sell a product labelled with the name of a class C illegal drug on the front? Trading Standards and the police have no laws to prevent this. "These `cannabis pastilles' can be imported into our country from Holland, yet America and Australia have laws preventing such packaged items being imported and sold. She stressed: "If these pastilles had been for sale in a health food shop I would not have objected, but a shop selling chocolates and sweets, making its living from our children, I find it morally offensive." Mrs Cusack, who wrote a report on the medicinal use of cannabis for her degree, said although it could be beneficial to MS and Aids sufferers, it could have devastating psychological and neurological effects on the lives of young people. She said: "I have nursed people with severe neurological problems due to drugs. It is quite shocking when you see someone so young left so neurologically disabled." She is arguing that it is morally and ethically wrong to sell anything with the name `cannabis' on the same shelves as sweets - and she wants the Government to clamp down on their sale. She pointed out that sweet cigarettes had been taken off the market, and now she want to see the same thing happen to `cannabis' sweets. She stressed: "This is sending out the wrong message to kids - it goes against everything we are trying to tell them." It is not the first time cannabis confectionery has been brought to the attention of Trading Standards. Last year tests were carried out on `cannabis' lollies which were on sale in Leeds, and tests are currently being carried out on `cannabis' sweets. A police spokeswoman said: "There is no offence unless they actually contain the drug. It might be morally wrong but there is nothing we can do to enforce it." Trading Standards officers have no powers to prevent the sale of the sweets, and they are asking shop-keepers to behave responsibly. Divisional Manager Dave Lodge said `cannabis' lollies were tested last year and found not to contain any active ingredients. He said a complaint had been made recently about other cannabis sweets which had now been sent for analysis - although it is not clear whether these are the same as the ones on sale in Yeadon. He said: "We have actually submitted those for tests but we are reasonably confident we won't find any active ingredients there. From what I can gather they are your average boiled sweet but with cannabis extract with the active ingredient removed." He said the sweets were not illegal and were not even breaking any rules on food labelling. "It comes down to bad taste and to being socially responsible," he said. "We are struggling a little bit really to find any legislation that would prohibit their sale." But he said where the sweets were causing concern officers had spoken to shopkeepers to make them aware of public feeling. "A lot of retailers have said we will take them off sale - but others have said unless you tell me they are illegal, I will keep on selling them." A spokeswoman for The Chocolate Shop declined to comment.
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