Hershey candy looks like drugs

[adroitcuffs]

Police: Hershey candy looks like drugs

By Marc Levy

Associated Press Writer / December 1, 2007
HARRISBURG, Pa.—New mint packets being sold by The Hershey Co. look nearly identical to the tiny heat-sealed bags used to sell illegal powdered drugs like crack, heroin and cocaine and glorify the drug trade, a Philadelphia police official said.
Ice Breakers Pacs, nickel-sized dissolvable pouches with a powdered sweetener inside, hit store shelves in November. 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, Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector William Blackburn told the Philadelphia Daily News for an article published Friday.
"It glorifies the drug trade," he said. "There's really no reason that a product like this should be on the shelf."

Full article: http://www.boston.com/news/odd/artic...ks_like_drugs/

Link to Hershey's info: http://www.hersheys.com/icebreakers/pacs/

[armsmaster270]

That's all we need a look alike

[MacLean]

Some designer with a drug habit is laughing his ass off that he managed to get this to market.

[CTR man]

No wonder why they are closing their plants and moving to Mexico.

http://www.modbee.com/2133/story/79192.html

I personally think we should boycott Hershey and their products.

Post Hershey: What will happen to prime property?

By JOHN HOLLAND
jholland@modbee.com
last updated: September 28, 2007 05:35:32 AM



OAKDALE -- If any people are negotiating a sale of the Hershey Co. chocolate plant, they are doing so quietly.

The company is not commenting about its effort to sell the South Yosemite Avenue property, where another group of employees is being laid off today as part of a phased closure expected to be completed in February.

"I don't have any information to share," Hershey spokesman Kirk Saville said Wednesday.

Representatives of CB Richard Ellis, the commercial real estate firm marketing the plant, said Hershey asked them not to comment about the process.

Hershey is shutting the plant, along with several others in the United States and Canada, as part of a restructuring that will move some candy production to a new plant in Monterrey, Mexico.

The Oakdale plant, which opened in 1965, employed 575 people when the closure was announced in April. The first round of layoffs was in July, displacing 168 workers. An additional 294 were designated for layoffs effective today, but many of them have left already, a union official said.

Some of the candy-making equipment is being dismantled and shipped to Mexico, leaving a partially vacant site for potential buyers to tour.

Hershey is seeking $18.5 million for the property, according to a listing by CB Richard Ellis. The 85-acre site has 615,000 square feet of floor space across six buildings, plus ample utilities and rail access.

Oakdale City Manager Steve Hallam said he has not heard anything about a future tenant. Stanislaus County Assessor Doug Harms, whose office would reassess the property once a deal is closed, said he has not heard anything, either.

Bill Bassitt, chief executive officer of the Stanislaus Economic Development & Workforce Alliance, said he has heard that "there is some definite interest" in the plant, but he did not know from whom.

"I hope it's someone who's going to use it for a production process instead of just warehousing," he said.

The plant has been a sizable buyer of almonds and milk from farmers in and near Stanislaus County. Michael Marsh, chief executive officer of Western United Dairymen, said a dairy processor would be a welcome replacement because the region lacks processing capacity.

"One of the challenges might be that it's so far from (Highway) 99 or I-5, but it does have rail," he said.

Food processing of some sort could find its way into the plant, said John Boyd, a New Jersey-based consultant on corporate location decisions.

"It's a valuable economic development asset for the community," said Boyd, who specializes in the candy business and visited the Hershey plant years ago. "Even with the shift to offshore manufacturing investment that we see, there are still opportunities, especially in the food processing industry."

Bee staff writer John Holland can be reached at jholland@modbee.com or 578-2385.

[Operator13]

I live near the Hershey factory and this is ALL over the local news.

You'd think they were selling crack the way people are reacting.

Perhaps I am naive' (sp?). I really don't see what the big deal is.

[Pudge]

are similar enough to drug packets that a child familiar with the candy could mistakenly swallow a heat-sealed bag of drugs

That in itself is enough for me. Let alone the pain in the ass it will be if one of us runs across someone with these packets on them.

[OXCOPS]

I bought some crack the other day in a blue pouch. It gave me the freshest breath I have ever had.

[Probation13-901]

Now I am going to be flash testing everything..lol

[adroitcuffs]

I live near the Hershey factory and this is ALL over the local news.

You'd think they were selling crack the way people are reacting.

Perhaps I am naive' (sp?). I really don't see what the big deal is.

Yes, you are naive. These little packets look like a common form of packaging for drugs. Any time a "mainstream" item is packaged and/or marketed in such a way as to be similar to something illicit, you give more opportunity to those engaged in illegal activities to not only hide their actions but also to create a level of acceptance in mainstream culture. Playing on the naivete of most parents, a kid could easily "hide" his/her drugs in plain sight by claiming that "It's just my icebreakers candy pacs." Of course, there's the danger already mentioned of an innocent child putting what is thought to be candy in his mouth...

This is just a small example of what we have to deal with. You would definitely be surprised at the creativity of drug dealers/users and the lengths they will go to in order to ply their trade.

[Rhino]

"It glorifies the drug trade," he said. "There's really no reason that a product like this should be on the shelf."

No, idiot statements like that, and articles similar glorify the drug trade. I mean, really, who gives a crap?

[Star Man]

Yes, you are naive. These little packets look like a common form of packaging for drugs. Any time a "mainstream" item is packaged and/or marketed in such a way as to be similar to something illicit, you give more opportunity to those engaged in illegal activities to not only hide their actions but also to create a level of acceptance in mainstream culture. Playing on the naivete of most parents, a kid could easily "hide" his/her drugs in plain sight by claiming that "It's just my icebreakers candy pacs." Of course, there's the danger already mentioned of an innocent child putting what is thought to be candy in his mouth...

This is just a small example of what we have to deal with. You would definitely be surprised at the creativity of drug dealers/users and the lengths they will go to in order to ply their trade.

Well said.