alvin
12-01-2007, 11:22 AM
http://news.aol.com/business/story/_a/new-hershey-mints-resemble-cocaine/20071130175509990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001
HARRISBURG, Pa. (Nov. 30) -- Hershey, the century-old maker of chocolate bars recognizable in every corner of America, is selling a mint that police officers and judges say would be recognizable on a drug corner.
Ice Breakers Pacs are nickel-size dissolvable pouches with a powdered sweetener inside. They look similar to the tiny heat-sealed bags used to sell illegal powdered drugs like crack, heroin and cocaine.
"Being in narcotics the majority of my career, I thought it was the real stuff," Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector William Blackburn told the Philadelphia Daily News.
The mints, which are sold in blue and orange plastic slide-top cases, first hit store shelves in November.
Linda Wagner, a Philadelphia narcotics officer whose teenage daughter died of a heroin overdose, held back tears when she saw the pouches.
"I was shocked," Wagner told the newspaper.
A spokesman for the company, based in Hershey, Pa., about 80 miles west of Philadelphia, pointed out that each pouch -- made by two dissolvable mint strips -- bears the Ice Breakers logo.
"It is not intended to simulate anything," said spokesman Kirk Saville.
Saville would not directly respond to questions about whether Hershey has plans to change the product's appearance or whether anyone in law enforcement or inside the company has previously raised a concern about it.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (Nov. 30) -- Hershey, the century-old maker of chocolate bars recognizable in every corner of America, is selling a mint that police officers and judges say would be recognizable on a drug corner.
Ice Breakers Pacs are nickel-size dissolvable pouches with a powdered sweetener inside. They look similar to the tiny heat-sealed bags used to sell illegal powdered drugs like crack, heroin and cocaine.
"Being in narcotics the majority of my career, I thought it was the real stuff," Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector William Blackburn told the Philadelphia Daily News.
The mints, which are sold in blue and orange plastic slide-top cases, first hit store shelves in November.
Linda Wagner, a Philadelphia narcotics officer whose teenage daughter died of a heroin overdose, held back tears when she saw the pouches.
"I was shocked," Wagner told the newspaper.
A spokesman for the company, based in Hershey, Pa., about 80 miles west of Philadelphia, pointed out that each pouch -- made by two dissolvable mint strips -- bears the Ice Breakers logo.
"It is not intended to simulate anything," said spokesman Kirk Saville.
Saville would not directly respond to questions about whether Hershey has plans to change the product's appearance or whether anyone in law enforcement or inside the company has previously raised a concern about it.