New York Times runs first ever marijuana ad in partnership with dispensary locator Leafly
Medical marijuana group Leafly on Sunday launched a full-page ad in the New York Times kicking off a campaign showcasing the medicinal benefits of cannabis for patients with serious illnesses.
The New York Times ran the first-of-its-kind “Just Say Know” ad - a play on Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” anti-drug campaign from the 80s.
It aimed to inform readers of how different cannabis strains can help lessen the severity of illnesses such as cancer, AIDS, epilepsy and multiple sclerosis.
This comes after New York last month passed the Compassionate Care Act which saw the city become the 24th US state to allow those with permits to legally smoke cannabis.
Seattle-based Leafly, a website and app which locates nearby drug dispensaries for registered users, developed the six print ads over 18 months with the intention of publishing them after the legislation was passed.
Brendan Kennedy, chief executive of Leafly, said: “We’re in full support of New York’s Compassionate Care Act. As the walls of prohibition crumble, patients need the type of reliable, mainstream information about cannabis that only Leafly provides.
“Eight out of ten Americans agree that medical cannabis should be legal for patients. Leafly is here for those patients.”
The ad follows a larger editorial trend from the New York newspaper which last week published a comment article backing the legalisation of the drug, saying it was “long past time to repeal this version of prohibition".
It read: “There were 658,000 arrests for marijuana possession in 2012, according to F.B.I. figures, compared with 256,000 for cocaine, heroin and their derivatives.
“Even worse, the result is racist, falling disproportionately on young black men, ruining their lives and creating new generations of career criminals."
The following five ads will run subsequently each week in the newspaper’s Sunday edition.