cannabisnews.com: Firm's Ads Back Legal Marijuana 





Firm's Ads Back Legal Marijuana 
Posted by CN Staff on September 22, 2003 at 06:56:46 PT
By Betsy Calvert, Staff Writer 
Source: Republican
Greenfield -- Either Joseph White is an excellent fund-raiser, or he has an excellent cause. White, a 40-something-year- old parent in Greenfield and professional fund-raiser, founded and single handedly runs Change the Climate Inc., which advocates nationwide for the legalization of marijuana. The annual budget for the 3-year-old nonprofit is about $500,000, all from donations, White said. None of the donations pay for salaries, he said. His regular job is as senior executive at the Amherst-based fund-raising firm, Share Group Inc. 
Donations come in by the hundreds of thousands of dollars, mostly from wealthy businessmen who have made this their cause, White said. Small donations are unusual, he said, except anonymously over the Internet. He believes many people are afraid to be associated with this cause. Currently, Change the Climate has 600 billboards and transit ads posted in Washington D.C. Its advertisements take on several possible themes, White said. In San Francisco, for example, billboards portrayed a federal raid on medicinal marijuana-use clinics. In some parts of the country, the ads show a happy couple frolicking in some vacation spot, with the text "Enjoy better sex! Legalize and tax marijuana." In Puritan Massachusetts, the focus is on the budget. The billboard features photographs of teachers, firefighters, nurses, even construction workers. The text is like "$138 million to save local services." White commissioned a $2,000 study by an economics professor at Boston University, who came up with the figure of $121,000 million spent annually in the state on marijuana law enforcement. The rest of the money could come from taxing marijuana use, the study concluded. Last week, one of those billboards got some unexpected publicity in Westboro. The outdoor advertising company Clear Channels Inc. of Stoneham, pasted Change the Climate's ad up over a police sketch of an at-large rapist. The police sketch was running for free. Change the Climate typically pays between $10,000 and $20,000 for a billboard, White said. When state police learned the billboard had an unauthorized photograph of a trooper, they demanded it be removed. Clear Channels took the blame for failing to use the stock photo of an actor, dressed as an officer. Change the Climate's boards are being reformulated and a large number will go up around Boston this week, White said. There will be no billboards in Western Massachusetts, White said, even though he considers this area to be among the most liberal in the country. The reason, he said, is that the outdoor advertising firm Lamar Advertising Co., its Hartford office, refused to run the ads on their billboards. "I looked at several versions of his designs, and with each version, I got more and more uncomfortable with it," said Lamar Vice President Stephen Hebert. "I just decided not to do it. It's not always a money decision." A big problem, Hebert said, is the association of the photographs of professionals with marijuana, even though the message does not say they support marijuana use. Firefighter Robert McCarthy, now spokesman for the Professional Firefighters of Massachusetts, said his organization does not approve. "I don't know where they get off doing that," McCarthy said, a veteran of Watertown's department. "I really don't think it's in particularly good taste," said Turners Falls Fire Chief Raymond Godin. In Montague, Police Officer Douglas Brown, who is also the juvenile and the Drug Awareness and Resistance officer, was willing to say he does not support legalizing marijuana. He believes it would lead to more problems for police, such as violence associated with alcohol. Marijuana advocates point out that the drug has the opposite effect on most users, making them less aggressive. Detecting marijuana intoxication is much harder than alcohol use, Brown said, and if children start using it before they go to school, it could be a real problem. It would make enforcement of driving laws difficult as well, he said. Finally, Brown also believes what many taxpayers believe - money saved in tax dollars never goes where the average tax payer wants it to go. Like the tobacco control money, he said, marijuana taxes eventually disappear into the state coffers. Source: Republican, The (MA)Author: Betsy Calvert, Staff Writer Published: September 21, 2003Copyright: 2003 The RepublicanContact: letters repub.comWebsite: http://www.masslive.com/republican/Related Articles & Web Site:Change The Climatehttp://www.changetheclimate.orgTrooper Made Poster Boy For Marijuana Billboardhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17279.shtmlMarijuana Billboard Snuffed http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17271.shtml
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Comment #4 posted by E_Johnson on September 22, 2003 at 10:44:34 PT
Hmm a typo
"White commissioned a $2,000 study by an economics professor at Boston University, who came up with the figure of $121,000 million spent annually in the state on marijuana law enforcement. The rest of the money could come from taxing marijuana use, the study concluded."$121,000 million is $121 billion, oops. Those would be some well paid cops. I think they mean $121 million.
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Comment #3 posted by BigDawg on September 22, 2003 at 07:36:10 PT
Big problem?
A big problem is assoiciating professionals with MJ use???If professionals didn't have to be afraid of losing their profession the world would find that MANY of them enjoy the good herb.
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Comment #2 posted by Jose Melendez on September 22, 2003 at 07:24:37 PT
just don't tax it.
we've been taxed enough. 
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Comment #1 posted by Prime on September 22, 2003 at 07:24:22 PT
Classic...
"In Montague, Police Officer Douglas Brown, who is also the juvenile and the Drug Awareness and Resistance officer, was willing to say he does not support legalizing marijuana. He believes it would lead to more problems for police, such as violence associated with alcohol. "Now were against it because someone might use it with alcohol? I think someone has been hanging out in the evidence locker.
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