terrylee

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With the legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington state, advertisement of marijuana has not only become a possibility, but a necessity for any profit seeking producers in the marijuana industry.  They would need to advertise heavily to create a positive aura around their product amidst the negative anti-marijuana campaigns and advertisements.  But the question is, would it be ethical for these producers to advertise their possibly health hazardous product on a mass market?  Should the government ban advertisements promoting marijuana on the grounds of ethics?  We can analyze this by comparing marijuana and its effects against a massive bench mark in legal drugs: tobacco.  Over the years, the tobacco industry has set a fine line where a government could and should intervene to keep the public from self-harm.  So how does marijuana compare against it?

First, it’s important to consider why tobacco advertisements are restricted. The Tobacco Act of 1997 which restricts the advertisements states 4 purposes:

(a) to protect the health of Canadians in light of conclusive evidence implicating tobacco use in the incidence of numerous debilitating and fatal diseases;

(b) to protect young persons and others from inducements to use tobacco products and the consequent dependence on them;

(c) to protect the health of young persons by restricting access to tobacco products; and

(d) to enhance public awareness of the health hazards of using tobacco products.

To summarize, tobacco is seen as an addictive, health hazardous product that creates social harm, and its advertisement is seen to negatively influence the population, particularly the young population.  Although it could be argued that marijuana is a gateway to hard drugs that are addictive and that do create social harm, the fact is that marijuana itself is not physically addictive (although it can create psychological dependence), and does not create social harm as tobacco does by causing fatal diseases.  When compared to the reasons why tobacco was restricted, it’s clear that marijuana does not meet the same criteria to be restricted.