Hershey's (and the Government's) Empty Suit

Kick a man while he's down? Gladly, says Hershey's, the chocolate company. Via Fox News:

It was a big enough problem for Kenneth Affolter when he was sentenced to more than five years in prison for making marijuana-laced treats and soft drinks. Now he faces the wrath of a candy giant. The Hershey Co. has sued Affolter, 40, for giving his goodies names like Stoney Rancher, Rasta Reese's and Keef Kat. Each came in packaging similar to Hershey's Jolly Rancher, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Kit Kat candies, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. Hershey's suit, filed earlier this month in U.S. District Court in San Jose, accuses Affolter of trademark infringement, trademark dilution and unfair competition. The company is seeking $100,000 in damages.

Apart from Hershey's cheap PR stunt — a move that tries to pass off nose-thumbing Schadenfreude as principled courage ("hey look, we're a candy company that dares to be against drug dealers!") — there are two troubling things about this story. One is what Fox News tells us about Kenneth Affolter, and the other is what Fox News doesn't tell us about him.

Let's begin with the word 'marijuana-laced.' It suggests that the man, wholly unbeknownst to his clients and with nefarious intent, slipped a dangerous drug into the products they came to buy. But the drug in question was hardly an unknown ingredient to his clientele; rather, it was the very reason they sought out Affolter's wares at all.

Also, with all that talk of candy, the unstated but implied allegation is that he targeted kids, most of whom are virtually unable to say no to sticky sweets. Affolter is thus made out to be a schoolyard pusher, the almost entirely fictional bogeyman of millions of parental nightmares who plies tow-headed sixth-graders with illicit substances.

But a year-old article about Affolter's arrest in the San Francisco Chronicle tells a different story. The paper says Affolter, who is a Californian, supplied his goods to medical-marijuana dispensaries, which are legal in his state under Proposition 215 (though federal authorities with ice-water running through their veins have been brushing aside that fact for over a decade now).

When drug warriors trot out the fable that marijuana is often lethal, the best they can typically do to buttress the claim is to extrapolate tobacco data. They argue that because tobacco makes victims, and joints contain tobacco, smoking pot is a deadly health hazard. So you'd think these concerned folks would be relieved when marijuana users begin employing other ways — less harmful ways — of self-administering the drug. But no. The game is heads I win, tails you lose. Therefore, if the delivery mechanism is a candy bar instead of a stick of tobacco, the neo-prohibitionists immediately begin their disingenuous handwringing, claiming that since kids like candy bars, children, not adults suffering from serious ailments, are the real intended market for 'Stoney Rancher' and 'Keef Kat.'

The Chronicle again:

Rick Steeb, 55, of San Jose, who uses marijuana to treat the pain from glaucoma, said he's "never seen (the candy) outside the dispensaries. It's not like they were being sold in convenience stores."

But Special Agent Casey McEnry, spokeswoman for the DEA, the agency that conducted this week's raids, said Friday that marijuana "is a violation of federal law in this form and in the smoked form. Even though there may be claims that these weren't meant for kids, the packaging may suggest otherwise."

McEnry's rejoinder is almost comical. "The packaging may suggest otherwise"? If she and her colleagues had actual evidence that Affolter peddled drugs to children, the feds would presumably have wanted to share a few details of such a dastardly scheme. At the very least, they would have strongly insinuated that they had corroborating facts up their sleeves. Instead, the government's case appeared to be this: Affolter's product packaging looked nice and had pretty colors. Well, nuff said! Throw that child-corrupting monster in jail!

Here's how another DEA official phrased it for the benefit of the Dallas Morning News:

"In a way, this case sort of answers the question, 'What will they think of next?' " said Javier Pena, special agent in charge of the Oakland DEA office at the time of the busts at Beyond Bomb [Affolter's business]. "What so many people don't realize is that innocent children may somehow get their hands on these products and think they are just normal candy or soft drinks."

Remarkably, in the dozen news reports I just read about the trial and the sentencing, there was not a single mention by a prosecutor or the judge about Affolter having targeted kids, or about kids having ingested his goods. That charge seemingly evaporated overnight. So it doesn't appear that here we have an amoral evildoer who pushed marijuana candy on young Harry Potter fans. What I guess we have instead is yet another instance of federal authorities doing everything in their power — storm-trooper tactics and truth-twisting included — to cut off medicinal supplies to the extremely unenviable patients who depend on marijuana for relief of their pain or nausea.

Now, Affolter is said to have made a pretty penny in his marijuana endeavors, which raises the distinct possibility that he distributed his wares well beyond West Coast medicinal-pot dispensaries. That would make him less of a Good Samaritan or a martyr than his supporters like to think he is. But neither does it make him a criminal — not in my book.

Honestly: Beyond Bomb, his company, provided a product that people gladly bought of their own free will, and which, used in moderation, was enjoyable and satisfying.

A lot like Hershey's chocolate bars, when you think about it.

Comments

[Howlin' Hobbit]

Hmmmm... joints around these parts (Pacific NW) don't generally contain tobacco. The only places I've personally been where that is done is Canada, though I understand it's quite common in Europe.

[teqjack]

Heck, we still get the occasional evil-eye look from Canada because the US will not allow import of some rope. That's right, no hempen lines for your sailboat, fella! Seems that there may be one viable seed per 300 yards or something...

[Aprilla]

These dispensaries usually have an armed security officer checking prescribed permits. There is no way a kid could accidentally come across one of these candy bars. Perhaps a kid could come across a prescribed pill, thinking that looks like candy. I am so sick of the hypocrisy!