The Sugar Pushers

by Paul Jacob

Banned! First alcohol prohibition, then other drugs. Now candy.

Yes, candy is now banned on many school campuses. Why? Refined sugar is so bad for you it’s wicked.

I’m sure you know many of the major bad guys here. Twinkies. Ho Hos. Nestle’s Crunch. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Maybe you consumed some of these unsavory savories yourself in your youth. They’re not fruit and vegetables, that’s for sure.

In California the ban on intra-curricular sugar is legislative and statewide.

So, that’s that, right? No candy ever winds its way into a Golden-State kid’s lunch pail or backpack. Right?

Uh, not quite. There’s a black market. Valiant pint-sized entrepreneurs are sneaking the nefariously edible junk food onto school grounds despite the risks. According to Jim Nason, principal of Hook Junior High School, some of these rule-breakers “are walking around campus with upwards of $40 in their pockets. . . .” Forty bucks? That’s almost as high as the national debt.

It’s not just California. Sugar trafficking stretches from one coast to the other. In New Haven, Connecticut, eighth-grader and honors student Michael Sheridan was suspended for a day for buying a bag of Skittles. And banned from an honors student dinner. And not allowed to be class vice-president any more.

Seems the public schools are always panicking over something. Now, it’s sugar. When will they panic over poor education?

Paul Jacob's "Common Sense" is published by the Sam Adams Alliance. Their website can be visited at www.samadamsalliance.org.