Pubdate: Thu, 25 Jul 2013
Source: Sacramento News & Review (CA)
Copyright: 2013 Chico Community Publishing, Inc.
Contact:  http://newsreview.com/sacto/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/540
Author: Ngaio Bealum

ON MARIJUANA ADS

How are our good friends at The Partnership at Drugfree.org doing?

- -The Pal

Funny you should ask. It seems they are going to have to accept some 
new realities. They just released a survey called "Marijuana: It's 
Legal, Now What?" They surveyed just over 1,600 parents about weed 
and found that a huge majority approved of medical marijuana, and 
almost 50 percent approved of legalizing weed for recreational 
purposes. Hee hee! The times, they are a-changin'! When staunch 
drug-war defenders such as The Partnership have to admit that weed 
legalization is inevitable, you know you are doing something right.

The survey also found that parents worry about weed advertisements. 
This argument is similar to ones made against ads for cigarettes and 
booze. I can see their point. It's tough to keep your kids on the 
straight and narrow path when they are constantly bombarded with ads 
about how cool drugs are.

The debate about marijuana advertising will be interesting. I believe 
that one of the things leading to the backlash against medical 
marijuana in California was not just the proliferation of clubs but 
the proliferation of cannabis advertising. It's a delicate dance, 
because people have a right to advertise their business, but they 
need to do it in a way that doesn't scare the squares. All those 
giant pot leaves and whatnot seem to give some people the willies. 
And I don't mean the Willie Nelsons.

Do you guys have any suggestions as to the best way to advertise 
without being rude?

If you could smoke pot with anyone living, who would it be? Dead?

- -Hypothetical High

Hmm. Usually, when someone asks this question, they mean famous 
people, so let's skip all the obvious ones (Snoop, Willie Nelson, 
Rihanna) and all the ones I have already smoked with (Redman, Brian 
Posehn, Doug Benson, Adam Sandler, Adrianne Curry and Tommy Chong, to 
name a few) and try to find some interesting ones.

I would love to get high with Morgan Freeman. I'm sure he could tell 
some stories. Paula Deen could probably use a bong hit or two right 
about now. We could get high and make some sort of deep-fried, 
bacon-wrapped cheesecake.

When it comes to smoking weed with dead people, the choice is easy 
for me. Take me back to the '40s and let me burn the reefer with all 
those hepcats: Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Mezz Mezzrow, Bing 
Crosby (he smoked a lot of weed; it helped him when he quit drinking) 
and Lord Buckley. I'm sure Louis Armstrong would drop by at some 
point. Ol' Satchmo loved weed. Loved it! And I quote: "If we all get 
as old as Methuselah, our memories will always be of lots of beauty 
and warmth from gage. Well, that was my life and I don't feel ashamed 
at all. Mary Warner, honey, you sure was good and I enjoyed you 'heap 
much.'" He actually once wrote a letter to President Dwight D. 
Eisenhower asking him to legalize marijuana.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom