Illinois’ senior U.S. Senator, Dick Durbin, recently introduced legislation in Washington, D.C. to crack down on flavored tobacco in e-cigarettes. He believes Big Tobacco is marketing to children with flavors like cake batter, whipped cream and gummy bears. As a mother and grandmother, I applaud his efforts.

But there’s another industry targeting kids right under our adult noses – Big Marijuana. We should be concerned to see how tobacco companies like Philip Morris are investing in marijuana for what some are calling Big Tobacco 2.0. (Read more here.)

Marijuana-infused sweets like gummy bears, jolly ranchers, cotton candy, cookies, ice cream, lollipops and even cereal are attractive to young people. Candy and cookies have names like Twigz, Goober, Dab-A-Honey, Keef Kat, Buddahfinger, Double Pupp Oeo, and Twixed.

Can you believe that one Colorado pot dispensary advertises 20 percent off everything with Student ID? Others use colorful cartoon characters like Fred Flintstone and Cookie Monster. Vape pens are made to look like Hello Kitty and little alien robots.

Tobacco addiction is bad but marijuana addiction is worse. Research confirms that regular use of marijuana has a neurotoxic effect on teenage brains – including permanent brain damage.

Teens are already using because they think marijuana is harmless. After all, it’s “medicine,” isn’t it?

The million dollar question then is – Why would Illinois lawmakers even consider legalizing it for recreational use? The answer is simple. For the tax revenue, in hopes of bailing themselves out of years of irresponsible overspending at the expense of our kids.

With elections coming up, it is vital to know where candidates stand on legalization.

Take ACTION: Click HERE to send a message to Senator Durbin to encourage him to introduce federal legislation to ban marketing to children using cartoons, candies and kid-friendly flavorings in highly-addictive marijuana products.

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