Two Kentucky elected leaders are joining their peers in asking a national clothing retailer to stop selling questionable pint and shot glasses.
Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway and U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers are asking retailer Urban Outfitters to stop selling an array of pint glasses, shot glasses and flasks that are made to look like prescription pill bottles.
The two men have consistently fought for laws to reduce Kentucky's prescription pill epidemic on both the state and federal levels.
In a news release, Conway said the fact that the retailer, which is known for selling ", is encouraging the mixture of alcohol and pills by their branding is even more disturbing.
“These products make light of an epidemic that kills more than 1,000 Kentuckians each year and is responsible for more deaths than heroin and cocaine combined,” Conway said. “Combined with alcohol, the misuse and abuse of prescription medications can be deadly, making the Urban Outfitter Rx pint and shot glasses and flasks even more disturbing.”
Conway, a Democrat, says he'll be joining other attorneys general across the U.S. in sending a letter to Urban Outfitters asking them to stop selling the items in question.
In his letter to Urban Outfitters, Republican Congressman Rogers says the company's history of outlandish items does not give cover to the items he is protesting.
"While I understand that your company's business model is predicated on the sale of controversial products, I believe marketing products to young people with an explicit allusion to the misuse of prescription medicines is simply a bridge too far," Rogers says.
Urban Outfitters' only store in Kentucky is in Louisville.
