CRUSADE AGAINST CANDY: Local man says packaging looks like crack

A Green Valley man is leading a local crusade to have a popular candy barred because he, and others, say the packaging make it look like crack cocaine.

Bill Katzel has taken his argument that Hershey’s Ice Break Pacs are poorly packaged to both the Tucson City Council and the Pima County Board of Supervisors.

The Philadelphia City Council has also issued a proclamation to Hershey’s urging it “to immediately remove Ice Break Pacs from the market.”

“I think it’s wrong for candy to be disguised as drugs,” said Katzel.

Neither board took immediate action.

Katzel demonstrates the packets. The candy is powdered and packed in small packages that dissolve in the mouth.

They’re available locally, Katzel said. “I bought them from a cashier at Target,” he said Monday.

In material distributed by Katzel, Hershey said “the candy is designed to look like a breath mint and nothing else.”

He added, “Consumers love the product. It’s unique and innovative.”

In his prepared testimony to the Pima County supervisors, he said “Ice Breaker Pacs could prove to be an enormous devastating repercussions on our children,” and could be an enormous waste of resources” for law enforcement personnel responding to reports of drug use.’

He also said children might accidentally mix the candy with real drugs “causing deadly retaliation.”

He called on the board to pass a resolution similar to the one passed by the Philadelphia City Council Dec. 6, 2007.

In testimony prepared for the Tucson City Council, he said Tucson narcotics Police Capt. Terry Rozema “fully supports what other police chiefs around the country have determined to be the potential dangers of this product.”

The Philadelphia City Council resolution “urges the Hershey Company to immediately remove Ice Break Pacs from the market.”

Katzel also submitted a printout from “ABC News: The Blotter” that quoted a Nebraska policeman saying the packets of candy could be confused with packs of drugs and “it will be difficult to tell the difference between a dandy product and an illicit drug.”

He said police said law enforcement personnel will have to seize all similar items, whether drugs or candy.

“It’s going to waste a lot of resources to determine whether it’s candy or drugs.”

jlamb@gvnews.com | 547-9749