Some people will argue that marketing is what made America great. Now drug pushers have joined the ranks of marketers to increase sales of their poison to children. According to law enforcement reports, cocaine and methamphetamine is showing up across the country with flavors as diverse as strawberry, coconut, chocolate, peanut butter, cola, cherry, grape and orange. One version even looks like Pop Rocks, the fizz-in-your-mouth candy. How many more young people, who otherwise might never have tried cocaine or meth, will fall victim to addictive drugs just because they’ve been flavored and wind up needing drug rehab?

According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), colored/flavored meth has been found in Nevada, Washington, Idaho, Texas, New Mexico, Missouri, Minnesota and California. Acting on a tip last week, deputies in Yolo County, California, right next door to the state capital, arrested six people and seized three pounds of sweetened cocaine flavored with strawberry or coconut. Hollywood gossip web sites are reporting that flavored drugs are exploding on the local club scene. Users are charged a 40-percent premium for it, and pushers are getting their price. It’s too soon to know how many people have been drawn into drug addiction as a result of exposure to these drugs, but it’s only a matter of time until they start showing up for drug rehab.

Some officials are so worried about flavored drugs that a new law has been proposed by U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). Under the new Saving Kids from Dangerous Drugs Act, simply making or possessing candy flavored versions of street drugs would be enough for an arrest that, upon conviction, would carry the same doubled (or tripled for a repeat offense) penalties now handed down to drug dealers who knowingly sell to minors.

With the potential to create addicts ruin lives, disrupt families and lose loved ones to drug addiction or even death, flavored drugs warrant (or any addictive drugs for that matter) should be the subject of some straight talk between parents and their kids. The last thing anyone wants to see is a whole new generation of drug addicts lining up for drug rehab.

But the growing popularity of flavored drugs on the club scene is probably the greatest threat. These are the role models for younger kids, their older brothers and sisters, many of whom are soon to be parents themselves, who are swelling the ranks of the addicted faster than any other group. We need to get them into successful drug rehab programs before they ruin their own lives, and the lives of the families.