Is Cannabis Clothing “Child Abuse”? The WTF Moment of the Day!
So what now? You can’t print Japanese Maple flowers on clothing anymore? Or could it be something else? Is it Marijuana leaves? It is hard to spot the difference. But it was closely enough resembled for some anti-drug advocates and parents to get all fired up when the Chinese company, AOSHILONG-Baby had this legging for toddlers on Amazon. Mind you, it was never mentioned that is resembles green cannabis leaves. They referred to it as digital printed leaves.
So what is all this hogwash about? After the first complainant raised her voice anonymously saying that it is inappropriate and should not be advertised, loads of anti-drug advocates and people all over the world joined her choir. They say it is” child abuse” and should not be used to “normalize” smoking the green stuff. Their biggest concern is that it tells children that smoking marijuana is all acceptable. They also said that even though AOSHILONG-Baby never said it was marijuana printed leaves, everyone knows a marijuana leaf when it is blatantly put out like that.
The question is, is it really a marijuana leaf? Let us look a bit deeper into this. This is a Chinese company that manufactures mainstream clothing. They made leggings for tiny toddlers, offering various prints, and put them on Amazon. They are from the Asian continent. Is it not just a little possible that they printed Japanese maple leaves instead of marijuana leaves on it? It would not be the first time that people get confused with these two leaves. Do yourself a favor and search online how similar these two leaves look.
Not too long ago a similar mistake was made by Sheriff James reef in Illinois when he was accusing someone of giving marijuana infused candy to trick-or-treaters in Halloween. The suspicious candy was even tested to see if it tested positive for cannabis, but later he had to admit that it was safe for consumption and that the candy wrapper had a design of a Japanese maple leaf that looks very much like a marijuana leaf.
In 2014 a sixth-grader was even suspended because he brought a leaf to school that brought forth great confusion. It turned out also to be a Japanese maple leaf and not a marijuana leaf.
With a closer look to the design on the leafy printed leggings, it looks very similar to Japanese maple leaf. The Chinese company might just have used a popular print in Asia and not had the idea of bombarding Amazon and its clients with pro-cannabis advertising. Should anti-drug activists not rather do some homework first before just assuming the worst?
Amazon took these specific leggings off, but not everyone thought that is downright “child abuse”. Many people made use of social media to express their thoughts by saying how silly and outrageous people are acting. If you don’t want them, don’t buy them, as simple as that. Some were also saying that what goes for one must go for everyone. There are many other items for sale with religious imprinting for example; or with alcohol or tobacco brand. Why is that all right?
Marijuana-themed products are becoming very popular as legalization is moving forward. There is a lot of money in this business and as more states are hopping on board, more celebrities in favor of legalization start showing their love for cannabis, especially on social media. Retailers and designers will not want to stay behind and marijuana accessories and clothing will become more popular and seen all over.
The controversy around marijuana will probably never go away. You will always have the two camps, those for and those against legalization. On both sides you will also find extremists, but in the mainstream of the pro-cannabis followers, most will found to be responsible and not trying to push themselves on other.
It is obvious that there will be concerns, but most concerns often spring from lack of knowledge and understanding. The best way to get rid of confusion is to be enlightened.
Legalization is not taking steps back; it is moving forward very fast. Isn’t it better to get your child informed, rather than using the ostrich approach? Be responsible and teach them about the pros and cons of marijuana just as you would teach them about alcohol and tobacco. Solid education starts at home, if good foundations are laid, your kid might surprise you. Not every child growing up in a house where alcohol or tobacco is available, drink or smoke. So would it be with everything else.
The outrage by the prohibition camp in my opinion is erroneous, they are merely looking for excuses to bitch and moan while other real atrocities are happening. Why not get involved with something that matters as opposed to critiquing clothing. Nobody is “normalizing” anything; we’re just progressing as a society.
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