(Denver, CO) – Today, the Marijuana Accountability Coalition (MAC), a Colorado group dedicated to holding the state’s marijuana industry accountable, announced a new billboard campaign aimed at educating Coloradans and Governor Jared Polis on the failed policy of marijuana legalization in Colorado. Governor Polis is currently considering signing bills into law allowing for the creation of pot bars and other dangerous giveaways to the marijuana industry. This campaign seeks to enumerate why continued expansion of the industry is dangerous to public health and safety.
“Marijuana has been legal in our state for five years now, and it has not helped our state,” said MAC spokesperson Luke Niforatos. “Our education system is still underfunded, marijuana-related traffic deaths and emergency room visits have skyrocketed, foreign cartels are turning our public lands into illegal farms, pot shops are taking over minority communities, and our state is now the poster child for drug use. This has been a failed experiment. It is time we pushback against the lies promoted by the industry and take our state back from Big Marijuana.”
The billboards, placed in highly trafficked areas throughout the Denver area, aim to set to the record straight regarding the results of the last five years of legalization. The concerning takeaways include:
- There has been a 151% increase in marijuana-impaired driving deaths
- Opioid-related deaths have increased every single year
- 70% of Colorado pot shops recommend marijuana to pregnant mothers
- There has been a 400% increase in 0-9-year-olds being exposed to high potency marijuana products
- Criminal gangs and foreign cartels are big fans of marijuana legalization
“It is our hope that these billboards will wake up our fellow Coloradans to the reality that we have unleashed the second coming of Big Tobacco by allowing for the commercialization of marijuana,” continued Niforatos. “The pot industry is spending millions to sway Colorado lawmakers to free it from regulations and is treating our citizens like guinea pigs as it markets more potent and more addictive forms of the drug.”
To learn more about the harms marijuana commercialization has on public health and safety, please visit www.pottruth.org.
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