cannabisnews.com: Pro-Pot Ads To Be Posted at 10 Metro Stations





Pro-Pot Ads To Be Posted at 10 Metro Stations
Posted by CN Staff on October 02, 2003 at 22:49:03 PT
By Denise Barnes, The Washington Times
Source: Washington Times 
Metro subway stations will soon display a batch of ads promoting the legalization and taxation of marijuana as a means to improve sex, save taxes and protect children.   The poster ads, sponsored by the Massachusetts-based nonprofit group Change the Climate Inc., had been displayed on Metro buses, billboards and bus shelters during the past month. They are expected to be posted at 10 subway stations as early as Monday, said Metro spokesman Steven Taubenkibel.
D.C. Council member Jim Graham, chairman of Metro's Board of Directors, said, "These ads are intolerable, and we need to review our policies so that First Amendment considerations are not allowed to compel us to accept this type of advertising."   Under its policy for public service advertising, Metro reserves 10 percent of its advertising space for nonprofit groups.   Joseph White, founder and president of Change the Climate, said his group is not advocating the use of marijuana but is seeking to prod discussion about drug laws. The ad campaign is the group's third in the metropolitan area since 2001.   "Washington, D.C., is one of our favorite targets because here are politicians who are standing in the way of change," said Mr. White of Greenfield, Mass., a 48-year-old father of three boys.   On its Web site -- http://www.changetheclimate.org -- the group says it aims to "raise the hackles of America's 'morality police' " with its "Enjoy better sex!" ad, which shows a young couple in a romantic embrace. The group says the drug has been used by "many different cultures as an aphrodisiac for thousands of years" and "has been used in India for at least 3,000 years to increase libido and conquer impotence."   But in its Web site's "Myths & Facts" section, the group argues against the assertion that marijuana use can cause impotence, stating, "Most studies of humans have found that marijuana has no impact on sex hormones."   Change the Climate's poster showing a smiling teenage girl does not say how legalizing and taxing marijuana would "Protect our Children!" but the group says on its Web site that regulating pot, like alcohol, would make it more difficult for children to acquire the drug.   According to a survey by the National Institute on Drug Abuse last year, 38.7 percent of eighth-graders said they had used alcohol in the past 12 months, compared with 14.6 percent who said they had used marijuana during the same period.   Joyce Nalepka, founder and president of Drug-Free Kids: America's Challenge, said the ads send "a dangerous message to children."   "I think it is irresponsible to promote legalization of marijuana in a country where it already is a major problem," said Mrs. Nalepka, who founded the Silver Spring-based group in 1997. "We have in every city in this country problems with drugs, violence and trying to protect all children."   Two years ago, Metro officials rejected Change of Climate's ad campaign but reversed their decision after the American Civil Liberties Union took up the group's cause, citing the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech.   "While the [subject] may be controversial to some people, we have a commitment to present all sides of every issue," said Mr. Taubenkibel. "As long as an ad is not vulgar, crude, uses no four-letter words and presents their viewpoint, then they have a right to go up."   Mr. Graham, Ward 1 Democrat, said he believes in the First Amendment, "but we are being carried to limits here that no one can tolerate.   "When it leads us down this kind of path, we must find another option," he said of the ads.   The Washington Post first reported about Change the Climate's ads. Source: Washington Times (DC)Author: Denise Barnes, The Washington TimesPublished: October 02, 2003Copyright: 2003 News World Communications, Inc. Website: http://www.washtimes.com/Contact: letters washingtontimes.comRelated Articles & Web Site:Change The Climatehttp://www.changetheclimate.orgGood Riddance To Sex-and-Marijuana Ads http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17419.shtmlTrooper Made Poster Boy For Marijuana Billboardhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17279.shtmlMarijuana Billboard Snuffed http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17271.shtmlMetro Ad Campaign Features Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17255.shtml 
Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help




Comment #7 posted by escapegoat on October 03, 2003 at 09:37:29 PT
DC people - Vote Jim Graham out
***D.C. Council member Jim Graham, chairman of Metro's Board of Directors, said, "These ads are intolerable, and we need to review our policies so that First Amendment considerations are not allowed to compel us to accept this type of advertising."***You know, I'm meeting a friend who is flying in from DC tonight. I think I'm going to mention Graham's rather ignorant attitude toward free speech, and ask my friend to vote accordingly. (He doesn't even smoke pot, but he takes free speech pretty seriously.)
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #6 posted by ron on October 03, 2003 at 08:12:35 PT
Ever heard of Harry Anslinger, Mrs. Nalepka?
"I think it is irresponsible to promote legalization of marijuana in a country where it already is a major problem," said Mrs. Nalepka...Listen Mrs. Nalepka:     -it was "irresponsible" to criminalize marijuana in the first place.     -it is "irresponsible" to continue to "send a dangerous message to our children", by lying in oped, pr crafted, spin tested, presstitutional papers...       ...and refusing to debate in open forum.How do you assuage your guilt, Mrs. Nalepka?  
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #5 posted by mamawillie on October 03, 2003 at 08:07:05 PT
Have you seen Joyce's website?
it is a joke! They want all hemp products banned... that said it all for me. She's ignorant. To say the US needs to ban hemp products because they come from a plant that looks like marijuana, is the same as saying we need to ban the word niggardly because it sounds like a different word with a different meaning. Joyce is contributing to teen drug use because she's all about the lies. The kids are smarter than she is. As soon as they figure out all of these bad things arent' happening, how the friends are still on the honor roll and can relax on the weekends and how disaster isn't happening to them, well they they blow off her whole message. Joyce is a failure.None of us wants our children and our teens to use drugs. But talking about it reasonably and rationally and explaining why they should wait to try it if they want to will be so much more effective than trying to scare them into not using it and then having the backlash afterwards.Also, Joyce has contributed to the E movement because since she demands drug testing in schools, the kids are more willing to try something the can take on Friday that will be out of their system by Monday. Joyce, woman to woman, mother to mother, listen to me. You are wasting your time. You have NO IDEA how badly you are contributing to the drug problem through Prohibition. You are not making a difference in lessening drug use-- statistics clearly show that. Instead you have contributed and helped contribute to other problems among teens such as E. You should be brought up on charges and held accountable.I'm your neighbor, Joyce. I live in a big house, belong to civic organizations, and am almost in the top tax bracket. We are socially active and help build our community. You probably spoke to me at your last upper-class party you went to. I probably told you all about my kids and how I am president of the PTO. The pros have infiltrated your neighborhood and your class rankings. And you are standing alone in your Prohibition.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #4 posted by Sam Adams on October 03, 2003 at 07:10:24 PT
Joyce, you've got A LOT more work to do
Haven't you noticed the Viaga advertising campaign lately? Recently I had to sit through a tampon ad that was WAY more graphic that I needed. Maybe you've seen it, it's the one where two teenage girls are passing a tampon back & forth during class and they get caught.I guess tasteless advertising by huge, profiteering corporations is OK. Advertising of indigenous plants is a no-no.  I guess using Britney Spears and Christine Aguilera to brainwash a generation of children into dressing & acting like whores is OK too. 
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #3 posted by kaptinemo on October 03, 2003 at 06:01:20 PT:
Joyce and her friends do read this site, you know
Oh, yes, they do indeed. She even gave us some free publicity; very kind of her, as this site is seen by far more people in one day than hers sees in a week. Thank you, Joyce!As to the comment by that DC Council member, Mr. Graham: do you recall the oath you swore as a public servant, Mr. Graham? It made for NO exceptions regarding the protection of the Bill of Rights as being dependent upon your personal likes or dislikes. If you don't understand that, then I submit you should resign and let someone else with a better comprehension of the responsibilities you agreed to take your place.I may not like the ad about sex and cannabis - I believe it needlessly and dangerously trivializes our position - but I will not lobby for their removal: I DO understand the importance of the First Amendment. I and every vet who ever lived didn't go through so much for some panty-waisted creep to wipe himself with my rights. Everyone must be heard, even the ignorant, the stupid, the hateful and the hurtful.Everyone, no matter how much you'd like to choke them.Otherwise, we get the kind of lock-step, happy-faced, truncheon-ready fascism Korporate Amerika is trying to Crazy Glue onto the American persona. 
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #2 posted by Jose Melendez on October 03, 2003 at 05:39:34 PT
Look, Bud.
I've got three words for those against marijuana advertising:Bud. Wise. Er.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #1 posted by JSM on October 03, 2003 at 03:29:43 PT
Ads
I have been ignoring Change the Climate's pleas for donations, but anything that riles Joyce and her cronies this much has to be worth a few dollars. And isn't this a great quote: "...we need to review our policies so that 1st amendment considerations are not allowed to compel us to accept this type of advertising." Just exactly what part of freedom of speech does this Nazis not understand? We are engaged in a battle that transcends mere legalization of cannabis and this simply illustrates that to prohibitionists our heritage and freedoms mean nothing and, in fact, are only a hinderance to their moral crusade. 
[ Post Comment ]


Post Comment