"Pot"lollies?!

Children looovve candy; children of all ages love lollipops, including us "biggest kids". Parents love their children, and want to protect them; but what good, as the article goes, are anti-drug campaigns on TV and in school if companies like Chronic Candy and Pot Suckers confuse the issue by selling.....you guessed it: pot-flavored lollipops? Such candy has been highly promoted (unknown as to how well it's selling yet, but you can guess the appeal to the adult market!), and the companies that make them claim their products are only flavored with "hemp essential oil", not containing THC, marijuana's active ingredient, but hold the phone; they also say these products are only intended for ages 18 and over, IF you visit the company store. But yet the pot-flavored lollies and gumdrops ARE available for minors to buy online and at the discretion of the stores that sell them, including Spencer's in Lynnhaven Mall in Virginia Beach, which sells Stoner Pops (!) Go figure. And whether or not the candy does get you high (mayhap only psychologically?), the entire setup is rather unappealing; it smacks of the dope pusher, putting his wares into candy to hook kids to make more money (the bottom line). I mean, what adult who might have or have had kids would be able to suck on one of those lollipops and read Mary Jane Candy Co.'s slogan, "Every Lick is Like Taking a Hit", and think of their own offspring? Whoa, look out, Guilt City; or Shame City, whatever. The sentiment's the same, the dirty old man giving candy to children in order to lead them to a bad end. And the girl who wrote the original article did have a point, when she said that by selling the flavor and image of the drug, the companies were essentially selling weed itself. Even I can see where a curious kid might surreptitiously buy one of these lollipops to try the taste, and then think, Hm. That's pretty good. I wonder what smoking it would actually be like? I mean, teenagers and adults are the same in that respect, plant a seed in their minds, it almost always will grow into something! And that bad ol' Mary Jane Candy Co. even sells its ganja gumdrops in dime and nickel bags, for realism sake---for crying out loud. That's going a little too far. But people aren't letting them get away with nothing: the Georgia legislature, Long Island, are making moves to ban the candy; and in Texas, they almost were able to vote on a bill to make the sale of cannabis confections punishable by a $4,000 fine. Wow! A bit harsh for candy, but not for what it's made out of, and the ramifications of it. Besides, we have some very good anti-drug campaigns going on, one of which received appropriations of $119 million in fiscal year 2005. These drug campaigns are saving young lives, and it's not worth the money spent on them to waste it by promoting marijuana, in a form that appeals to children. Now, I must say here that I have some reservations, for the possibilities of finding avenues of pain relief in marijuana for people with terminal illnesses, but that's about it. I repeat, it's just not worth it: contrary to my old flower child spirit, my older and wiser spirit can now see that if marijuana were legalized in this country, another, enemy country could probably just arrange to get everyone over here stoned, then come in and truly "waste" us.

I welcome your comments.