HIGH POINT — This is not your usual Halloween candy warning.
Authorities hope this message will save a child’s life long after the goodies collected by trick-or-treaters are gone. During a news conference Monday, High Point police officials expressed concern about THC sold locally in packaging resembling popular snacks and candy.
„It’s the sheer danger for the children” if they accidentally got into any of these items, or took them to school, Lt. Kim Rieson said Monday.
High Point Police Lt. Kim Rieson, left, shows some of the counterfeit products to N.C. Secretary of State Elaine Marshall after a news conference Monday at police headquarters in High Point.
The products violate trademark laws and many of them are marketed toward children, Rieson said. THC is short for tetrahydrocannabinol, the compound that gives marijuana its high.
„I don’t want any child to get sick,” Rieson said.
A 4-year-old boy in Virginia died in May days after ingesting „a large amount” of THC gummies and his mother is facing felony murder and child neglect charges in his death, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.
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On a table at High Point police headquarters, some of the packaging was on display to show how easily items could be mistaken for the original brand name snacks or candy. Rieson urged parents to look carefully at any packaging they are concerned about.
High Point Police Lt. Kim Rieson holds one of the counterfeit products and urges parents to look closely at the packaging for „THC” (pointed out here).
On Oct. 20 and 27, High Point officers joined agents from the N.C. Department of the Secretary of State, N.C. Anti-Counterfeiting Task Force, N.C. Alcohol Law Enforcement (ALE) Division and U.S. Homeland Security Investigations to check 20 tobacco and vape stores for trademark violations.
Products included bongs, grinders (a tool that can be used to break up marijuana buds), roach clips, vape cartridges and gummies. Several stores also were selling cans and bottles with hidden compartments, which are commonly used to hide narcotics.
Some of the trademark names and images included:
- Louis Vuitton
- Disney
- Nintendo
- Marvel
- Frito-Lay
- Kellogg’s
- Mondelez (Oreo, Chips Ahoy and Sour Patch Kids)
- Coca-Cola
- Girl Scouts of the USA
Those companies did not give permission for their trademark to be used on the products, police said. Offenders of trademark laws can be charged with a misdemeanor or felony, depending on the products’ value.
High Point police say store owners and employees voluntarily surrendered more than 8,800 counterfeit products and were issued a warning. The cost of the surrendered items totaled $49,896, police said in the news release.
Store owners and employees voluntarily surrendered more than 8,800 counterfeit products and were issued a warning. The cost of the surrendered items totaled $49,896, police said in a news release.
Police are not releasing the names of the warned stores because no charges were filed.
„If we go back in a store that we have warned, and given them written warnings and covered the law with them and gone over it, if they in fact restock with this type of merchandise, they will be charged,” Rieson said.
Store owners and employees also surrendered synthetic urine marketed under the brands U-Pass and XStream Urine, which violate state law about defrauding drug and alcohol screening tests, police said in the news release.
„This is out there,” Rieson said. „As much as we take it off the streets in High Point, it’s going to show up in the streets in Greensboro, it’s going to show up in Thomasville, it’ll show up in Lexington. We’ll keep taking it away here.”