New Mexico Entrepreneurs Produce Meth-Themed Products Based on “Breaking Bad”

Several entrepreneurs in New Mexico have created products with a methamphetamine theme, to cash in on the popularity of the TV hit “Breaking Bad,” the Los Angeles Times reports. Some parents are upset by the trend, the newspaper notes.

Breaking Bad, filmed in Albuquerque, portrays a high school chemistry teacher diagnosed with cancer. He teams up with a former student to make meth, in order to provide for his family’s future.

An Albuquerque spa products company is producing meth-looking bath salts that resemble the drug depicted on the AMC show. The bath salts are meant for bathing—they are not the synthetic drugs with the same name that can cause a variety of harmful symptoms including hallucinations, severe paranoia and elevated heart rate. The bath crystals are marketed in eight-ounce plastic bags similar to the ones used in the show.

A local candy store is selling what it calls meth candy, blue rock candy that resembles the drug produced on the show. A pastry shop features “meth doughnuts” with blue candy on top.

Some parents are protesting the products, saying they glorify drug use. Amelia Chavez, a manager at Rebel Donut, told the newspaper, “We’re not into glorifying drugs — it’s just an ode to the show. If you sell donuts with powdered sugar, are you promoting cocaine? It’s just candy. It’s just a doughnut.”

A spokesperson for the Albuquerque police department, Tasia Martinez, said the department has not issued a statement on the products. “As a police officer, I can see the problem,” she said. “You sell candy cigarettes to kids and you send a message. The same goes for crystal meth-looking candy or doughnuts. You have to draw a line someplace. If it looks like meth, you could fool young minds.”