Resident warns of candy-like cannabis products; city staff says ordinance would let authorities remove synthetic cannabinoids from shelves

A resident warned the Springfield City Board of Police Commissioners on June 11, 2025, that cannabis products resembling candy could reach children, and a city staff member said a city ordinance submitted to the City Council would let authorities remove unregulated synthetic-cannabinoid products from store shelves.

The comment came during the public-comment portion of the board’s meeting at 299 Page Boulevard. Resident Steven Howard told commissioners he had heard from a City Council member and the public-health department that some cannabis products being sold outside licensed dispensaries look like candy and could appeal to children.

“I’m afraid that something like that may be happening, may begin here,” Steven Howard said. “I’m not saying it’s happening now. But something like that could actually find its way on the streets whereby ... whoever it is could be providing this candy‑like cannabis to the young children and once they get hooked.”

A city staff member who spoke during the same public-comment discussion described the product as an unregulated synthetic-cannabinoid item and said the city had submitted an ordinance to the City Council to treat it similarly to flavored tobacco products. The staff member said police, the public-health commissioner and other city departments would support enforcement.

“We are labeling it the same as that, that it can be it can walk right in and if you see it, it can get taken right off the shelves,” the staff member said, describing the intended enforcement approach.

The staff member also said the state House had acted on legislation addressing synthetic cannabinoids but that the state Senate had not yet completed action; the staff member presented the city ordinance as a more aggressive, local approach while state action is pending. The staff member referenced coordination with the police department and the city’s commissioner of public health, Helen Collins Harris, for store inspections and enforcement.

No formal vote or directive by the Board of Police Commissioners on the ordinance was recorded at the meeting; the ordinance had been submitted to the City Council for consideration, according to the staff member. Commissioners did not take formal action on the matter during the session reported in the transcript.

The subject is of particular concern to public-safety officials when products that mimic candy are sold outside regulated dispensaries because of the risk they may be accessed by children. The staff member said existing local tools for regulating flavored tobacco sales informed the proposed local approach to synthetic-cannabinoid products.