Anger over 'cannabis lollies'

A headmaster reacted with anger today to the sale of "cannabis lollies" just yards from his school.

The green 50p sweets are being sold at a Texaco garage in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, near to St Cuthbert's High School.

Although the sweets contain hemp extract and not cannabis, headmaster John Wood said today they made the drug "look glamorous".

Mr Wood said: "We are very unhappy that these things are on sale.

"We do our best to keep our children away from illegal drugs but youngsters will be attracted by them and may go on to try the real thing.

"Putting them on sale and marketing them is very inappropriate. They are making cannabis look glamorous and that is wrong."

But Sal Guliwala, a partner at Texaco's Dean Service Station, insisted the sweets were legal.

He said: "They do not contain cannabis, they contain hemp extract and we only sell them to over-18s."

Texaco distanced itself from the decision to sell the controversial lollies.

A spokesman said: "Texaco does not sell hemp-flavoured lollies at any of its company-managed sites and neither does it condone the selling of such products.

"Dean Service Station is an independently-owned business with a fuel supply agreement with an independent fuel distributor.

"Texaco has no direct business relationship with the site. As a responsible company, Texaco has expressed its strong concern on the matter."