ANGRY RETIREE OP-ED: PRETZEL STICKS ARE A GATEWAY DRUG.

by Barry S. (NWM Staff Writer)

I see it all the time when I take my daily walk to the corner grocery store for skim milk. Tiny kids sitting in shopping carts, snacking on those mini-pretzel sticks. Some are just chomping away. While others are pretending these snacks are like cigarettes. So there they are, puffing on their imaginary cigs. And 5 years from now I’m sure these same kids are going to be teen-punks smoking like chimneys on the same corner. Smelling up the area. Littering the place with butts. In fact my neighbor (with a PC) confirmed my fears. He said he found some study that did link smoking to playing with candy cigarettes or pretzel sticks as kids. 22% of smokers admitted to it in this survey of 25,887 U.S. adults. Personally, I think parents should think twice before handing their kids any food in stick form like breadsticks, pretzels and of course candy cigarettes. Carrot sticks I’m not so sure.