The Federal Trade Commission and the Food and Drug Administration are warning six companies to stop selling marijuana-infused products that look too much like popular snacks and candies.
Dr. Smoke’s THC-infused “Cheetos” are almost identical in packaging to Cheetos Crunchy Flamin’ Hot Cheese snacks, a favorite of my grandkids, even including an image of Chester Cheetah.
The Los Angeles-based Delta Munchies sells gummy bears in bright packages that, at first glance, appear to be regular gummies. What kid doesn’t love those?
Misleading marketing is what has raised the ire of these federal agencies, not primarily the danger these and other marijuana products pose to anyone who uses them. Marijuana is STILL a Schedule 1 drug “with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.” And it’s much more dangerous for children, with accidental ingestion causing an increase in calls to poison control centers and landing children in hospitals.
In a statement, the FTC rightly said confusing packaging presents “unwarranted health or safety risks” to children, who can accidentally ingest the drug-infused snacks. “Marketing edible THC products that can be easily mistaken by children for regular foods is reckless and illegal,” said Samuel Levine, director of the agency’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.
Even gummies containing hemp, which was legalized by Congress in 2018, are sending children to the hospital. According to the Wall Street Journal, “Calls to poison-control centers concerning these newly popular hemp-derived cannabinoids boomed over the past several years, from four in January 2021 to hundreds every month of 2022 and 2023…”
Hemp is a cannabis plant that, defined by law, contains less than 0.3% Delta-9 THC. The WSJ article goes on to say, “That definition ended up being a loophole, as entrepreneurs were able to extract from hemp an alphabet soup of federally legal, yet intoxicating, cannabis-derived chemicals.”
Moreover, there doesn’t seem to be the same level of concern about impaired drivers who are putting our families at risk. Public service announcement billboards encouraging sober driving now litter our highways. Gone are the days when we boldly told the public that they should “just say no” to drugs.
A lot of people are being needlessly hurt because of the foolishness and greed of lawmakers who continue believing legalization is a good idea. This is especially true of those who are motivated by taxing marijuana as a new revenue stream.
There is a way that seems right to a man,
but its end is the way to death.
~Proverbs 14:12~
