| Updated: 2/10 1:33 pm |
Published: 2/09 11:09 pm
|
Most people get the munchies when they're hungry, not when they're sleepy.
However, sleepy snacks that look like marijuana brownies and relaxing waters are being sold in Tulsa convenience stores and grocery stores.
Many of them appear to be marketed toward kids.
Sleepy snacks such as Kush Cakes, Dream Water and Lazy Pop were found in Tulsa gas stations and grocery stores and are made with melatonin or natural relaxing herbs.
The Food and Drug Administration hasn’t approved them and there’s no law minors can’t buy them in Oklahoma.
"It looks like kids candy,” said grandmother Gina Watchos.
However, it is not a sweet treat but a sleepy treat.
"It looks like pot brownies,” says Watchos.
The Kush cake brownie contains melatonin but it looks like marijuana. Kush is also a type of marijuana and the lettering is in pot leaves.
"If you look right here a smiley face with pot leaf hair. ‘100 percent legal’”, said OSU Medical Center Sleep Specialist Rick Ellis.
There’s also Dream Water that labels the 74 ml bottle as a dietary supplement to entice a consumer to buy it if they are having a hard time dealing with the energy drink they drank earlier. The label reads the bottle helps you deal with: ‘A loud neighbor keeping you awake and general stresses of everyday life’.
In the 1990’s melatonin became popular for travelers suffering from jet lag and clubgoers.
Now it’s becoming all the rage for young people.
The FDA is watching the companies who make dietary supplements that are considered food products.
"They can get away with it by saying it is a dietary supplement,” said Ellis.
When it’s considered an additive in foods, FDA is warning companies such as the maker of Lazy Larry formerly known as Lazy Cakes.
Some cities across the country have banned over-the-counter sales of so-called sleepy snacks.
The relaxation herbs found in Dream Water, Kush Cakes and Lazy Pops could actually worsen a sleeping condition.
OSU Medical Center Sleep Specialists say the herbs cause artificial sleep.
"You are really messing with your health when you are doing these things,” said Ellis.
Too much melatonin is never good for kids.
"They're something on here [front] that needs to say not recommended for children,” said Watchos.
On the back of the Kush Cake package it states there are 4 milligrams of melatonin.
"Look it says ‘Alert Warning’ in one-point font,” said Watchos.
Sleep specialist say 4 milligrams is ten times over the normal dose for a child.
"If they take too much at one time they will go into a stooper and be very sleepy,” said OSU Medical Center Sleep Center Manager Terry Hopkins.
Four milligrams is enough for an adult.
A FOX23 News Daybreak producer doesn’t have a set sleep schedule.
Beth Roberts says she has a hard time sleeping but doesn’t take a sleep aid, but tried the Kush Cake.
In an e-mail she wrote 20 minutes after taking the Kush Cake she literally fell over and went straight to sleep.
She said she felt cold immediately and had weird dreams. She says she felt panicked in her dreams but slept like a rock.
Doctors say too much melatonin can give kids seizures and tremors. if any of the symptoms occur you should call 911 or go to a hospital.
Sleep specialists also recommend you only take melatonin before going to bed and not to mix it with alcohol or double dose.
However, if you are having trouble sleeping, you should always consult with a doctor.
The Oklahoma State Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs reports there have been no cases of melatonin overdoses from the sleepy snacks.
In Congress, there is a proposed bill that would require the FDA to approve dietary supplements but it’s stuck in committee.
