Three Attorneys General Ask Clothing Store to Stop Selling Prescription Drug T-Shirts

The attorneys general of Florida, Kentucky and Maine have asked the Los Angeles clothing store Kitson to stop selling T-shirts featuring the prescription drugs Vicodin, Xanax and Adderall. The shirts include the marketing tagline, “Pop one on and you’ll feel better.”

The store has multiple locations in California and sells its clothing online, according to the Orlando Sentinel. In the letter, the attorneys general wrote, “that your company selected three drugs for the jersey names—Xanax, Vicodin and Adderall—that are among the most abused prescription drugs, along with the marketing tagline ‘Pop one on and you’ll feel better,’ demonstrates not an interest in educating the public about the dangers of prescription drug abuse but rather a most cynical effort to profit on the backs of the thousands of lives lost to this epidemic.” They added, “Prescription drug abuse is not fun or humorous. We urge you to pull these shirts from your shelves.”

The company responded on Facebook, “Kitson will stop selling the t-shirts in question if tv networks agree to stop accepting ad revenue from prescription drug companies.”

In August, the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids President and CEO Stephen J. Pasierb sent a letter to Kitson CEO Christopher Lee, asking him to stop selling the T-shirts. “As recent research from the Partnership shows, teens and parents alike do not understand the risk associated with the misuse and abuse of prescription drugs,” he wrote. “Tongue-in-cheek products that normalize and promote prescription drug abuse only serve to reinforce the misperception about the danger associated with abusing medicine and put more teens at risk.”

In June, Urban Outfitters announced it would discontinue selling products that promote prescription drug abuse, in response to a campaign by public health groups, state attorneys general and legislators.