Candy maker Mars Canada Inc. has won a $144,600 Federal Court judgment against marijuana dealers who sold cannabis-laced edibles under a copycat Skittles label. A federal judge condemned the cannabis dealers..“Advertising and offering for sale a potentially dangerous product using appropriated trademarks that are evidently and obviously attractive to children represents a marked departure from ordinary standards of decent behaviour,” wrote Justice Patrick Gleeson..The Court awarded Mars $45,000 for breach of the Trademarks Act, another $90,000 in punitive damages and $9,600 in costs. “The fact Skittles are a confectionary product that are attractive to children reinforces the need to denounce the defendants’ conduct,” wrote Justice Gleeson..Three marijuana dealers named in the lawsuit never appeared in Court. Lawyers for Mars said they first learned of the sale of fake cannabis Skittles in 2021 following “the hospitalization of a child in Ontario” who mistakenly ate candy from a lookalike package..Accidental marijuana poisonings account for thousands of hospitalizations in Canada according to the Public Health Agency. “Cannabis use is becoming increasingly prevalent,” the Agency wrote in a 2021 report..The Agency said typical cannabis poisonings involve minors. “Among cases with an identified location the majority of cannabis-related poisonings occurred in a residential setting such as at the person’s home or a friend’s house,” said the report..The Agency in the period from 2011 to 2021 counted 13,409 cases of alcohol poisoning and 3,961 cases of marijuana poisoning. Non-fatal opioid poisonings numbered 2,732..The Canadian Paediatric Society in 2019 predicted hundreds of children would be hospitalized with “serious and life-threatening” emergencies after Parliament legalized marijuana edibles. “Children and adolescents may be among those most at risk,” doctors wrote in a notice Serious & Life-Threatening Events Associated With Non-Medical Cannabis Use In Canadian Children And Youth..Doctors opposed Bill C-45 An Act Respecting Cannabis in parliamentary hearings. “Our experience shows as doctors in our professional life that there are very negative effects on the health of young people,” Dr. Laurent Marcoux of Montréal, then-president of the Canadian Medical Association, testified at 2018 hearings of the Senate social affairs committee..“The use of cannabis is linked to health risks,” said Marcoux. “Legalizing cannabis won’t change the risks.” The Association had recommended Parliament raise the minimum age for legal cannabis use from 18 to 21.
