Legalized pot advocates launch $1 million campaign with non-using mom

Supporters of the initiative to legalize marijuana in
Washington are launching a $1 million TV blitz this
week. In a somewhat unique twist, the ad features a
non-pot smoking mom touting the measure.

“The reality is, the overwhelming majority of Washington
citizens believe that treating marijuana use as a crime is
not working. But at the same time they don’t necessarily
want to smoke marijuana themselves. They just want the
laws to work better,” says Alison Holcomb, campaign
director with New Approach Washington, the
organization
behind Initiative 502.

“We feel that it’s very important to reassure people that
when we’re talking about changing our marijuana laws,
that’s very different from talking about promoting
marijuana use.”

In the ad, a woman identified as a Washington mom says, “I
don’t like it personally, but it’s time for a conversation
about legalizing marijuana.”

The woman goes on to raise questions about the benefits of
legalization, including increased tax revenues for schools
and health care.

The 30-second spot will run on TV news outlets across
Western Washington for the next three weeks. Holcomb says
the goal is to get as much attention as possible before
the fall election season heats up.

“This is going to be such a busy campaign season and we
really wanted to make sure we had a chance to engage
voters in thinking about this issue well before the media
market just becomes saturated with all of the ads that
will be running for other campaigns.”

Holcomb hopes the ads will convince voters
the people behind the campaign are taking a thoughtful,
careful approach to the issue and aren’t a “free the weed,
let’s all get high” group.