Succumbing to Hemptation

Chronic Candy is making waves with controversial treats

by: Jeanine Poogi

Candy is not just for kids anymore. With Chronic Candy’s lollipop and gumdrop flavors like Chronic, Bluebonic and Icky Sticky Skunk Buds, the company claims, “every lick is like taking a hit.”

Tony Van Pelt, 36, better known to his customers as Tony Montana—the name of the main character in the movie “Scarface”—is marketing this new line of hemp-flavored candy with that edgy slogan.

Chronic Candy is sold like marijuana in ‘nickel bags’ and ‘20 sacks’ and in packages adorned with bright green images of marijuana, in over 300 music, clothing and smoke stores nationwide—not to mention over the Internet.  The prices of the pops range from $5 for a nickel bag, to $80 for one ounce (80 suckers).

Even though Montana says that hemp-based candy has been around since the 1920s and is intended only for adult use, New York City officials are concerned over the message the treats are sending to children.

 “It is promoting the idea of smoking weed to kids,” New York City Councilman Bill Perkins (D-Harlem) said.

The treats, which are manufactured in Holland , do not contain tetrahydracannibinol (THC), the ingredient that gives pot smokers a “high.” Instead they are made with hemp-essential oils to create varying strengths of pot flavoring without intoxication.

In addition to the candy, Montana is also selling a line of DVDs entitled, “Chronic Chronicles,” as well as t-shirts, hats and other apparel adorned with marijuana slang. Last year the California-based company generated $150,000, and after recent publicity from the media, including endorsements by celebrities like Snoop Dogg and Paris Hilton, interest in the candy has soared.  Montana said his Web site has been bombarded with orders, receiving over five million hits each month.

Montana discovered the candy six years ago in Amsterdam . “I tasted it and I said, ‘Oh yes, this could work,’” he said. He brought the lollipops back to America and took them to a rock concert where he sold his stock in two hours, making over $2,000.

Montana attributes the success of his product to its ability to attract many different types of people.

“Chronic Candy is just not one [type of person],” he said. “It’s not just hip-hop; it’s not rock ‘n’ roll; it’s all of that put together.”

Montana once worked at a tile company making $300 a week and ran a tiny hobby shop, until he took his candy on the road in his “pot van” and spent five years driving cross-country.

“It’s a struggle every day to keep it going and be dedicated. You know what I mean, like we drove across country many, many, many times,” he said. “It’s rough, man, it’s just a struggle. We had some times when we had no money to eat. I am the type of dude that really wants to live the American Dream. Why not, you know?”

Montana says he is urging retailers to only sell the candy to people over 18 and is working to put warning labels on the packages.

“I’ve got a product, even though it’s a little bit controversial,” Montana said. “Obviously it’s a legitimate product that has the opportunity to be just as big as anything else you can think of.”

Legislator Daniel P. Losquadro (R-Shoreham) passed a bill prohibiting the sale and purchase of marijuana candy in Suffolk County .

Losquadro’s aide, Kevin LaValle, said the reason they are not focusing on the name Chronic Candy is because they do not want to give the company free advertising.

“This desensitized children to drugs and is against what we are trying to teach,” LaValle said.

New York City Councilwoman Margarita Lopez (D-Lower East Side) believes it is unrealistic to think Chronic Candy is not being marketed to children.

“Everybody knows candy is equivalent to children,” she said. “One of the ploys bad people use to get children to do things is candy.”

Perkins and Lopez do not think a warning label or an age restriction is enough to stop children from being influenced by the product and believe the candy should be taken off the market.

“Why sell something that promotes a drug culture and is both illegal and unhealthy?” Perkins said. “We have to be more conscientious about what we are doing.”

While government officials are concerned about what the candy promotes, it is the Hemp Industries Association (HIA) that may be most concerned over the message Chronic Candy is sending to the public.

HIA—which has been struggling for years to differentiate between hemp and marijuana—says the hemp candy is misinforming people and tarnishing efforts to legitimize the many uses of the hemp plant.

“Chronic Candy abuses the word ‘hemp’ in that it is misleading consumers to associate hemp and marijuana as one plant,” said Johanna Schultz, public relations director for HIA. “We at the Hemp Industries Association do not allow businesses to join our organization that follow this practice, as one of our main functions is to educate the public about this difference.”