“Just say no” is a thing of the past for Colorado’s marijuana users.
The state is shifting its weed tactics, pouring $5.7 million into a marijuana education program aimed at encouraging responsible use.
Larry Wolk, the state’s chief medical officer, told USA Today the new “Good to Know” campaign is not intended to prevent marijuana use, but rather will “educate without alienating.”
The state’s first “Don’t Be a Lab Rat” marijuana campaign, which placed human-sized rat cages in Denver, elicited backlash last year for attempting to deter use as opposed to promoting responsible use.
The new campaign is “bright and neighborly,” Wolk explains. It features banjo music, a rhyming cowboy and bright colors, a local paper describes.
But not all are impressed with the new approach.
Cully Stimson, manager of the Heritage Foundation’s National Security Law Program, calls the effort “a complete waste of taxpayer money.”
“There is no safe way to smoke marijuana,” he said. “As more and more data becomes available from Colorado, it is becoming increasingly clear this radical experiment in legalization has been a complete disaster.”
In October, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, told a local paper the state’s legalization was “reckless,” saying marijuana use harms long-term memory and the state shouldn’t encourage unhealthy practices.
State Rep. Jonathan Singer, the sponsor of the bill that implemented the weed tax, said the new campaign balances education with safe use.
“We need to start treating marijuana like the drug it is, not the drug some fear it to be,” he told USA Today.
The campaign is funded through the sales tax on marijuana purchases. It follows a state survey finding only 27 percent of residents knew it is illegal to smoke weed in public, and 23 percent knew the legal age of purchase is 21.
