Sacramento's FOX affiliate KTXL "FOX40" has aired the first paid advertisement for a medical marijuana dispensary. The thirty-second ad, which does not use the word "marijuana" once, shows various people delivering testimonials on the benefits of "cannabis" when used for medicinal purposes.
The advertisement indicates that cannabis can be used to relieve painful symptoms of diabetes, HIV, Hepatitis C, hypertension and other maladies. KTXL's Acting General Manager Mike Armstrong says the "CannaCare" sponsored advertisement is likely the first TV ad promoting medicinal use of cannabis to run on a mainstream television outlet ever.
"It is a matter of record within the medical community that medical marijuana can have positive results in helping relieve nausea and vomiting among cancer patients receiving chemotherapy and increasing appetites among AIDS patients," Armstrong said, alluding that the ad is no different from that of any medicine advertised by pharmaceutical companies on local television channels and cable networks for decades. Although, one striking difference would be the lack of horrific side effects that tend to take up the last half of most pharmaceutical commercial voiceovers.
"Like so many other products advertised legally in media, it is a drug," continued Armstrong. "When viewers watch the [advertisement] on air, they can see it's simply identifying this as an avenue to take if your doctor thinks it will help you feel better."KTXL aired the advertisement during the station's morning and evening newscasts, and throughout the day.
Advertisement promoting cannabis use, has already been in the media recently, as Facebook.com decided not to publish an ad promoting the legalization of cannabis for recreational use in the State of California. The advertisement did not meet Facebook's guidelines because it featured a marijuana leaf, which "is classified with all smoking products and therefore is not acceptable under our policies," a spokesperson for Facebook.com told The Huffington Post.
That advertisement, paid for by the pro-cannabis group "Just Say Now," later found a home on Google's advertisement network.
Oregon voters will decide in November if the state should have medical marijuana dispensaries in the spirit of California and Colorado. A ballot initiative, known as I-28, would legalize nonprofit medical marijuana dispensaries to sell marijuana to card-carrying patients. According to Oregon Business, the initiative barely qualified for November’s ballot.
The Secretary of State’s office has announced that I-28, the medical marijuana dispensary initiative, has qualified for the November 2 ballot.
Organizers of the I-28 campaign turned in 130,702 signatures, 85,848 of which turned out to be valid, narrowly exceeding the required number of 82,769 valid signatures. A separate campaign to legalize marijuana and sell it through state-run liquor stores went nowhere.
The idea behind I-28 is to allow people to set up nonprofit dispensaries for selling marijuana to people holding medical marijuana cards. The system would be overseen by the state health department.
Such a system would almost certainly result in a gold rush to tap into the growing market for legal weed, which has been lucratively exploited in California and Colorado. Marijuana is the nation’s largest cash crop, and any move to update regulations controlling how it is grown and sold will create opportunities within Oregon’s already sizable marijuana business. Just because an operation is a nonprofit doesn’t mean it can’t bring in big money. The dispensaries also would bring new revenue into state government from license fees.
As this article notes, an initiative to legalize marijuana failed quite miserably. The Oregon Tax Cannabis Act of 2010, sponsored by the Oregon chapter of NORML, gathered only 12,000 signatures of the 83,000 required. A similar initiative in Washington missed the ballot by a hair. Expect these two Western states, along with Colorado, to try again with full force to put legalization on the ballot in 2012.
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In Pot We Trust tells the story of four medical marijuana patients, against the backdrop of last years Hinchey-Rohrabacher vote. The filmmakers follow MPPs Aaron Houston through the halls of Congress, then join the DEA as they uproot marijuana plants in the hills of California.
Marijuana experts such asLester Grinspoon provide insight into the drugs benefits, while prohibitionists Joe Califano and Robert Dupont explain why theyve dedicated themselves to criminalizing sick people.
