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A4 U.S. NEWS
Friday 20 January 2023

Flavored cannabis marketing is criticized for targeting kids

By BOBBY CAINA CALVAN neon colors, as well as pro-
Associated Press hibit depictions of food,
NEW YORK (AP) — When candy, soda, drinks, cook-
New York’s first licensed ies or cereal on packaging
recreational marijuana out- all of which, the agency
let opened last month, the suggests, could attract
chief of the state’s Office people under 21.
of Cannabis Management, “Consumers need to be
Chris Alexander, proudly aware parents need to be
hoisted a tin of water- aware if they see products
melon-flavored gummies that look like other prod-
above the crowd. ucts that are commonly
Outside the Manhattan marketed to kids, that’s an
shop, he displayed another illicit market product,” said
purchase a jar containing Lyla Hunt, OCM’s deputy
dried flowers of a cannabis director of public health
strain called Banana Runtz, and campaigns.
which some aficionados Hunt recently saw a can-
say has overtones of “fresh, nabis product calling itself
fruity banana and sour “Stony Patch Kids” that she
candy.” said looked like the popular
Inside the store run by the candy “Sour Patch Kids.”
nonprofit Housing Works, Similar products are being
shelves brimmed with vape Cannabis vaping products are showcased at Housing Works, New York’s first legal cannabis sold by the dozens of illegal
dispensary, Thursday Dec. 29, 2022, in New York.
cartridges suggesting fla- Associated Press pot dispensaries that op-
vors of pineapple, grape- erate out in the open and
fruit and “cereal milk,” writ- growing over the packag- professor of epidemiol- industry and marketplace that officials worry are sell-
ten in rainbow bubble let- ing and marketing of fla- ogy at Columbia University that is rapidly expanding ing unsafe products. Once
ter print. vored cannabis that critics who has written extensively and evolving. New York, packaging and marketing
For decades, health advo- say could entice children about the rise in marijuana which legalized recreation- standards are established,
cates have chided the to- to partake of products use among young people. al marijuana in March 2021, the illicit marketplace will
bacco industry for market- labeled “mad mango,” “If you go through a can- forbids marketing and ad- likely not comply, experts
ing harmful nicotine prod- “loud lemon” and “peach nabis dispensary right vertising that “is designed in say. “We can regulate until
ucts to children, resulting in dream.” “We should learn now,” she said, “it’s almost any way to appeal to chil- we’re blue in the face. But
more cities and states, like from the nicotine space, absurd how youth oriented dren or other minors.” the truth is, it’s a partner-
New York, outlawing fla- and I certainly would advo- a lot of the packaging and But New York’s state Office ship between a compliant
vored tobacco products, cate that we should place the products are.” of Cannabis Management industry, strong regulations
including e-cigarettes. similar concern on canna- Keyes added that public has yet to officially adopt that are robust in their pro-
Now as cannabis shops bis products in terms of their health policymakers and rules on labeling, packag- tections for youth and then
proliferate across the coun- appealability to youth,” researchers like her are ing and advertising that with parents, too,” Hunt
try, the same concerns are said Katherine Keyes, a trying to catch up with an could ban cartoons and said.q

Settlement reached over Philly-area school abuse claims

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A $3 vation of education at a both cash payments for the intermediate unit failed harm that they have ex-
million settlement will es- now-shuttered Pennsylva- those who experienced or in its oversight responsi- perienced,” said Maura
tablish a fund for former nia juvenile justice facility. witnessed abuse and funds bilities and duties with stu- McInerney, legal director
students as part of a lawsuit Former Glen Mills Schools to pay for or reimburse ed- dents with disabilities. at the Education Law Cen-
alleging abuse and depri- students could receive ucational expenses after In a statement, the Chester ter. “And it’s important that
a settlement Wednesday County Intermediate Unit it’s happening at this time
with Chester County Inter- said it disagrees with the when the students can use
mediate Unit as part of an depiction of its role over it to really change the tra-
ongoing federal class ac- Glen Mills, but “protracted jectory of their futures.”
tion lawsuit. litigation will not benefit Other named defendants
Formerly the nation’s old- the young adults who con- in the ongoing lawsuit are
est reform school, Glen Mills tend they received an infe- Glen Mills Schools and for-
Schools had its licenses re- rior education while at the mer Glen Mills Schools staff,
voked in 2019. The state Glen Mills Schools.” plus officials at Pennsylva-
ordered the removal of all Lawyers said 1,600 students nia Department of Human
children following the Phila- who meet certain age limi- Services and Pennsylvania
delphia Inquirer’s investiga- tations are eligible to file for Department of Education.
tion detailing the alleged the fund. The distribution of Court proceedings contin-
abuse. awards is slated to begin ue this month. A trial date is
The complaint filed by the next year. still to be determined.
Education Law Center, “We do believe that this The lawsuit is among other
The Glen Mills Schools is seen on March 27, 2020, in Glen Mills, Juvenile Law Center and is an important starting legal filings against Glen
Pa. Dechert LLP on behalf of point to support these stu- Mills School by former
Associated Press former students asserts that dents to remedy the deep students.q