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I don't know how to properly connect the first three words of this sentence to the rest of the sentence:
Like I said: this is a problem for your doctor, not your drug dealer.
I feel like that colon is incorrect punctuation. Should it be replaced with a comma? Or should I use some other punctuation?
b. In some cases a person's exact words may be treated as either a direct or an indirect quotation, depending on the kind of emphasis desired.
The chairman himself said, “The staff should be told at once that the rumors about a new building have no foundation." [The use of quotation marks emphasizes that these are the chairman's exact words.]
The chairman himself said the staff should be told at once that the rumors about a new building have no foundation. [Without quotation marks, the emphasis falls on the message itself. The fact that the chairman used these exact words is not important]
—Gregg Reference Manual. Tenth Edition. 65.
Also, use and instead of the comma for parallel structure: "...for your doctor and not (for) your drug dealer"
CORRECT:
Like I said, this is a problem for your doctor and not your drug dealer.
