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Urban Outfitters In Trouble Over Drinking Products
The popular clothing store, Urban Outfitters is dealing with another group of problematic objects. This company, which is no stranger to controversy, has released a line of alcohol related drinking paraphernalia that has unsurprisingly angered people. The items in question now are its shot glasses, flasks, syringe shooters, and beer cans that all resemble prescription drug bottles. People in opposition to these products fear that these items are making light of the real issue of prescription drug abuse.
Due to the insensitivity of these items, the Partnership at Drugfree.org has created an online petition that condemns Urban Outfitters. The organization believes that Urban Outfitters should be reprimanded for "making light of the real prescription drug abuse epidemic that's claiming lives of teens across the country." The Partnership wants the clothing store, which targets a young and very vulnerable group of consumers, to remove these items.
"Tongue-in-cheek products that normalize and promote prescription drug abuse only serve to reinforce the misperception about the dangers associated with abusing medicine and put more teens at risk," the senior vice president of Government Affairs of the Partnership, Marcia Lee Taylor expressed. The people opposing this line of products also express the dangers of mixing pills and alcohol, which they believe the items are promoting.
According to the Partnership, medicine abuse has risen 33 percent within the past five years and nearly one in every four teenagers has experimented with misusing prescription drug. Furthermore, a lot of teenagers are unaware of the dangers of prescription pills. They often believe that prescription pills are safer than street-drugs when they do not realize that any kind of drug abuse can lead to death.
Other items that Urban Outfitters have been under fire for are its t-shirts that promote drinking and smoking, as well as t-shirts that have borderline racist pictures and words.
For a look at the items, visit the website here.
For the petition form, click here.
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