Weeding Out the Truth

                There is a new ad campaign encouraging adults to consume marijuana, albeit responsibly and in states where it is legal. To that end, there is a billboard in Denver, Colorado that states “Don’t let a candy bar ruin your vacation. With edibles, start low and go slow.” Below the message is “consume responsibly.org” who apparently sponsored the billboard or at least was partly responsible for this ‘public-service’ message. Notice that the message isn’t “Don’t smoke pot/do drugs/put toxins into your body/lungs” etc. (Many people have gotten sick from ingesting pot-infused candybars and other "foodstuffs").

                Can you imagine if this campaign were for regular old tobacco… cigarettes? Let’s say there were billboards in North Carolina stating “Don’t let a carton ruin your vacation. With cigarettes start low and go slow.” And then “Consume responsibly.org”. (Hilariously or tragically, depending on your perspective, many of the same people who bash cigarettes and cigarette smoking are okay with smoking pot. Incredibly, a few who advocate banning the sale of cigarettes lobby for the legalization of marijuana. Beam me up, Scotty).

                Would the response to the ads be any different? Or should I say, would there be a response… to the cigarette ad? You know there would be… an absolute outcry. (‘Big tobacco’ would be massacred for starters). Both are bad, but marijuana is an order of magnitude worse whether we are talking about toxins absorbed by the users body or long-term affects on the brain- and ambition- of said user. I never smoked it, but a few friends did when I was growing up. They spent many fruitful hours on the couch several summers watching soap operas for hours at a time. (They used to like to fish and water-ski and just be physically active and alive).

                How does one “consume cigarettes responsibly” let alone marijuana? Dude, I don’t know.

                Go ask Mary. When she’s ten feet tall.