Dangerous Contraband

It reads like a bad practical joke. Bad as it was, a joke it wasn't, when an elementary school principal in Texas decided to give a week's detention to a third grader last week for possessing the most notorious and dangerous of items, a Jolly Rancher, a piece of candy. In his defense the principal claims he was merely following state law that restricts junk food in schools. You're right, that is no defense for something as ludicrous as this. One would like to think that the state law was not intended to be used in such a way and that those in the position to enforce the law would have a better handle on what constitutes fair disciplinary action. But this is what can happen when state and federal laws are issued to control what Americans put in their mouths. Too little, too late, because the third grader had already served her time, the Texas Agriculture Department informed the school that the "crime" of possessing one piece of candy "would not be considered a violation of the state or federal nutrition program." With food activists from California to New York pushing for federal regulating of what we as consumers eat this may have just given us a peek into our not so distant and unpleasant future.