Drugs are no stranger to the Grand Theft Auto games, but it’s quite another thing to see fake drugs when picking up the game at a store.
When Reddit user mattwestcott went to an EB Games store in Australia for the midnight launch of Grand Theft Auto V, he saw employees lining the counter with fake drug paraphernalia. According to him, the staff asked customers for IDs for proof of age before customers even entered the store. Kotaku Australia reported this was an isolated incident done by “one rogue store” and the head office knew nothing about it.
EB Games issued the following statement:
Regrettably, one of our EB Games store locations in Queensland set-up an unauthorised display within the store in support of the launch of the Grand Theft Auto V video game. The display included a white powdery substance that appeared to be some form of an illegal drug. We can confirm that the powdery substance was “sherbet”, a type of fizzy candy, and at no point did the store attempt to give any of the fizzy candy away. This was an isolated incident, and we apologise for any offence this may cause.
Grand Theft Auto V is the first R18+ rated game of the series to be released in Australia. The R18+ category went into effect on Jan. 1 of this year. The Classification Board in Australia ruled drug use as a high impact on the game, while themes, violence, language, nudity, and sex were all labeled as a strong impact.
Source: Reddit via Kotaku Australia
