Pubdate: Tue, 25 Feb 2014 Source: Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ) Copyright: 2014 The Arizona Republic Contact: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/sendaletter.html Website: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/24 MORALS ASIDE, POT USERS ARE A MARKET Danielle Lei may be just 13, but she's a businesswoman. Like businesspeople everywhere, she wants to maximize sales. She wants to move product. So, she set up her table of Girl Scout Cookies outside a medical-marijuana dispensary in San Francisco. As the folks in marketing like to say when sales spike: Brilliant! With help from her mother, Danielle sold 117 boxes of Thin Mints, Tagalongs and Samoas in two hours. After just 45 minutes, with boxes flying off her table, she had to call for a re-supply. Our enterprising young entrepreneur makes no judgment, yea or nay, about the products being sold inside the Green Cross dispensary. She isn't condoning smoking marijuana. But people nevertheless are asking: Is it appropriate for a child to be directly tying the sale of Girl Scout Cookies, one of the world's most innocent indulgences, to pot-inspired munchies? There is room for disagreement. Danielle's mom, Carol Lei, is OK with it. The Girl Scouts of Northern California, meanwhile, are officially neutral. On the other hand, the Girl Scouts of Colorado - where marijuana is legal - take a dim view of their young saleswomen setting up tables outside liquor stores, bars or marijuana shops. We tend to think Mom knows best, but, really, society's willingness to accept legal marijuana is in flux. Even Jack in the Box, which has marketed its "Jack's Munchie Meals" with a series of almost-hallucinogenic ads, insists it isn't trying to corner the stoner market, just the late-night crowd. Sure, dude. Sure. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom