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Fired Up Over Kid Pot Book
James Kirchick and Leo Standora | New York Daily News | 07/27/2006

The crowd at a SoHo reading of "It's Just a Plant" yesterday came away clearly high over the controversial kids book on marijuana.

"Good," "important" and "harmless" were some of the words from listeners after author Ricardo Cortés read excerpts from his work at the Housing Works Used Book Cafe on Crosby St.

About three dozen people, most in their 20s and 30s, showed up to see what all the fuss was about.

The book has been called everything from "delightful" to an "outrage," and one Indiana congressman lambasted it as "a pro-marijuana children's book."

But Cortés, a former drug-prevention counselor in Brooklyn, said it's aimed at giving kids the straight dope on pot early because some are trying their first hit at 10 or younger.

He stresses the book deals with the potential harm of drug abuse and that kids shouldn't experiment with pot.

(BuzzNote: Related articles:
How a 'pro-marijuana' children's story found its way to Congress
NY: Balls, Barbies, and Bongs? Children's Book on Pot)