California Pulls Stoned Driving Ad Critics Argued Promoted Pot Use

January 8, 2018

California officials on Friday pulled an ad aimed at discouraging stoned driving after critics said it glorified and promoted marijuana use.

The public service announcement was rolled out as California began allowing licensed stores to sell pot to adults on Jan. 1.

The majority of the ad featured people talking about why they use marijuana.

One man says “I just like it.” A woman says it helps her with her anxiety and another says “it helps me feel normal.” It closed with them saying they never drive while high, and “DUI doesn’t just mean booze.”

Office of Traffic Safety director Rhonda Craft said in an email Friday that the agency shares “the concerns expressed over certain elements” of the ad and would work to refine the message.

“The intent, however, was to address as many of the reasons people choose to consume cannabis in a way that resonates with this demographic in hopes that they listen,” she wrote.

The ad will be replaced with a different one produced last year that warns that smoking weed, unlike cigarettes, can result in charges for driving under the influence.

The ads had a $1 million budget for airtime, plus production costs, and appeared in several of California’s major media markets.

Critics said the ad resembled alcohol ads that present a glorified image of a product and remind users at the end to “please drink responsibly.”

“If the state wants to reinforce the idea that DUIs can happen for smoking pot, it should be pretty easy for them to do without throwing out the claims for the benefits of smoking pot, especially when some of them aren’t entirely supported by everybody,” said Paul Mitchell, a Sacramento political consultant who had criticized the ads on Twitter.

Last week, California opened what is expected to be the world’s largest legal market for pot as states in the West have warmed to the long-banned drug.

The legalization push has prompted concerns from law-enforcement officials that it would lead to an uptick in impaired driving. There’s no simple test to check for marijuana impairment as there is for alcohol with a breathalyzer.

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