KENT COUNTY, Mich.–Marijuana-laced treats, cannabis candy, medibles, weed candy.
A quick Google search for the stuff and you’re flooded with information on where to buy it in stores or online.
Designed to treat pain for patients with serious medical conditions, the product is made by extracting the active ingredient or THC in marijuana.
It has recently become a huge hit at dispensaries in West Michigan, but detectives are worried it is falling into the wrong hands too easily and too often.
Companies like Sweet Stone Candy, based in Grand Rapids, sell the product at 11 different medical marijuana dispensaries across the state, including locations in West Michigan.
“Almost everyone who came in bought medibles of some kind, capsules wax or some type of extract,” explains John Placencia, who operated American Meds, a dispensary off 28th Street SE in Grand Rapids.
He said for patients it offers an alternative to smoking and can be regulated easier.
“Medibles are popular here in Grand Rapids, Michigan because of the culture, most people don’t want to smoke marijuana they prefer other methods of being able to utilize it,” he said.
To buy the marijuana-laced candy from a Michigan dispensary, patients need a state-certified medical marijuana card, but detectives with the Kent County Sheriff’s Office said that’s not always the case.
Investigators have recently busted three different dispensaries in Kent County for selling products to customers without a card.
”Legally, you’re supposed to have a card,” said Lt. Ron Gates with the Kent County Sheriff’s Office. “But we have done investigations and determined that selling it to all card holders, they are selling it to people off the street.”
The candy has been popping up in the wrong places.
On Friday, two students at Three Rivers High School were caught with the pot candy. Police believe they bought it from another student.
Last spring, a group of 5th-graders in northern Michigan were caught eating the candy in the boy’s bathroom.
Medical marijuana advocates support the sale of the candy in Michigan for patients, but said it comes down to responsibility for the dispensaries and at home.
“Yes, it can fall into the wrong hands,” said Placencia. “But that’s the same with vicodin, oxycondone, all these others ones, and that’s where our own responsibility comes into play.”
