how many licks does it take...

...to get addicted to weed?

i spent a few extra hours at work this evening due to the night's extravagant show one might refer to as the "all-star game." seeing as though the newscast didn't kick off until shortly before 11:00 pm rather than the usual 9:00 pm, i had plenty of time to waste in front of the cnn feed.

while sifting through the seemingly endless list of hurricane dennis and london bombing stories, i stumbled upon what is commonly referred to as a "kicker" about marijuana-flavored lollipops. apparently these have been around for a little while, and now all of these city council officials are attempting to ban them from the stores in their constituency claiming that it is a way to entice children into smoking weed.

while discussing this story with some of my co-workers, another popped into the conversation by agreeing with the city councils. she feels that by allowing children to grow accustomed to and possibly gain an affinity for the taste of the drug, we are simply handing them the keys to an addiction later in life. she seemed to view this candy as some sort of a "gateway drug" for smoking pot. unfortunately for her (because i'm known to be rather vocal), i have an opposite reaction to the story. although i agree that it is normalizing drugs for children, i don't understand where people get off saying that it will increase the likelihood of doing the drug in the future.

it seems to me that if our government is going to crack down on something such as this, they need to seriously take a look at plenty of other activities they have previously condoned. for example, our neighborhoods allow the sale of candy cigarettes. according to my co-worker, these aren't a problem because they are not normalizing the taste of a cigarette to the children. the way i see this, however, is that we are teaching children to walk around with a white stick inserted in the side of their mouths. this is directly socializing them to interpret that smoking is okay and possibly even cool. which to me...is not cool.

i'm not going to continue with other examples because that was my main argument. but seriously, people in power need to get over themselves. thats my point of the day and i'm kinda tired so no more explanation or ramblings. apologies.

"no i won't cry on the outside, anymore."