Police: Hershey Candy Looks Like Drugs

"It glorifies the drug trade," [Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector William Blackburn] said. "There's really no reason that a product like this should be on the shelf."

Are you @!$%#ting me? It glorifies the drug trade!? People sell drugs because it's a great source of income and not because they think it looks like fun. Nobody says to themselves, "These little blue baggies are cool. I think I'll start selling meth!" If nothing else it would be drugs that glorify this product and not vice-versa. Chief Inspector William Blackburn is an asshat.

Candy looks like drugs? What are you, high?

Besides, any kid who has parents with any form of common sense should tell the kids at some point in their most accessable age that selling meth is a bad bad thing to do that will either kill you or send you to prison where a behemoth of a biker named Bob will touch you in funny places.

In other words: Penn. police = mentally challenged Neanderthals.

The packets, which come in blue and orange plastic slide-up cases, are similar enough to drug packets that a child familiar with the candy could mistakenly swallow a heat-sealed bag of drugs

I think that's a legitimate concern. Not that some kid will think it's cool to sell drugs but that some small child will think a packet of drugs is the candy. Happens all the time with cleaning products. Blue colored Windex looks a lot like blue colored juice and a child that can't read might drink it.

I would be willing to bet that this will be yanked off the market before it hits most of the stores. What happens when kids start bringing these to school ? The first thing is the school system is going to say is no candy that looks like any form of drugs and there goes the market with the bad PR.

Drug dealers have been emulating brand name junk foods for years now, in packaging and names. It's not that far fetched that some yoots at Hersheys in charge of new product development, knowingly emulated right back {thinking it's sorta trendy}.

I'm still trying to figure out who is going to buy tiny packets of unknown chemicals, then stick those chemicals in their mouth, Hersheys or not.

The active ingredient in this candy is Xylitol'

From Wikipedia

Xylitol is a five-carbon sugar alcohol that is used as a sugar substitute. Xylitol is a naturally occurring sweetener found in the fibers of many fruits and vegetables, including various berries, corn husks, oats, and mushrooms.[2] It can be extracted from corn fiber,[3] birch, raspberries, plums, and corn. Xylitol is roughly as sweet as sucrose but with two-thirds the food energy.

Properties One teaspoon of xylitol contains 9.6 calories, as compared to one teaspoon of sugar, which has 15 calories. Xylitol contains zero net effective carbohydrates,[citation needed] whereas sugar contains 4 grams per teaspoon. Xylitol has virtually no aftertaste, and is advertised as "safe for diabetics and individuals with hyperglycemia". This is because sugar-alcohols have less impact on a person's blood sugar than regular sugars[4].

Yay! Now I can make my friends think I do drugs!

Great idea Hershey!

Almost as good as the 'candy cigarettes' that were sold back in the 80's.

Isn't it odd how the 'war on the bill of rights...opps...sorry, on drugs reaches into our lives in odd, occasionally almost outre, ways?

How is this in any way a 'war on the bill of rights'? If anything, it celebrates the BOR - Hershey has the freedom to make such an idiotic product - no laws against stupidity.

There is a difference between saying you are not allowed to do something and that you shouldn't do something.

I think you meant "outré" - if you're gonna use obscure words, at least look up how to type them!

How is this in any way a 'war on the bill of rights'? If anything, it celebrates the BOR - Hershey has the freedom to make such an idiotic product - no laws against stupidity.

Did you read what I wrote, I didn't say this was a war on the bill of rights, I said the drug war is a war on the bill of rights. Sorry I don't know how to make the little accent mark, kudos on your knowledge of keyboards.

As for:

There is a difference between saying you are not allowed to do something and that you shouldn't do something

, what does that have to do with my post?

And thanks for your charming tone and gracious reply.

:)

How was I to know you were not commenting on this story, but rather making a comment on an issue not being discussed? I agree, if you take my comments out of the context of this discussion, they don't make sense. However, I thought you were saying criticism of Hershey was a 'war on the bill of rights' - so in that context, my comments do make sense.