Pot – coming to a screen near you

Nearly a half-century after tobacco advertisements were banned from television in the US, an initiative in California could take a first step toward allowing television commercials promoting pot to air alongside advertisements for cereal and cleaning products, according to a story by Patrick McGreevy for latimes.com.

Proposition 64, which is on the November ballot, would allow people age 21 and older to possess and use up to an ounce of marijuana and would allow pot shops to sell cannabis for recreational use.

The initiative includes also a provision that could some-day allow cannabis sellers to advertise their products in print advertisements and on digital sites and radio and television stations, but would ‘prohibit the marketing and advertising of non-medical marijuana to persons younger than 21 years old or near schools or other places where children are present’.

Television advertisements for pot are not likely to appear soon, however, even if voters approve the initiative. There are other impediments to pot advertisements hitting the airwaves in California, including the fact that cannabis is still seen by the federal government as an illegal drug.

Still, the possibility that television commercials will some-day pop up featuring people smoking marijuana has been seized on by opponents of the ballot measure, including Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein of California.

“It rolls back anti-smoking advertising protections we’ve had for decades and allows marijuana smoking ads in prime time, on programs with millions of children and teenage viewers,” Feinstein said this month in announcing her opposition to Proposition 64.

Proponents of Proposition 64 say it includes rules to make sure the advertisements are not seen by minors, even going so far as to prohibit the use of marketing techniques that are appealing to young people, such as the use of symbols, music or cartoons.

“Concerns that marijuana ads are somehow going to flood the airwaves are the same tired scare tactics from the anti-marijuana opposition that were tried in other states and ultimately proven false,” said Jason Kinney, a spokesman for the “Yes on Proposition 64” campaign.

McGreevy’s piece is at: http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-california-pot-ads-20160731-snap-story.html.