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.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom