UK - We need positive cannabis bill board ads

[Evil GIR]

Anyone remember the Richard Dawkins advert he did on the buses.

"There probably isnt a god"

To go against all the jesus loves you rubbish thats advitised around london.


Well how about a UK wide advert on bill boards saying something like

Does cannabis REALY cause crazyness ?

or

is Beer REALY safer than cannabis

and have the add written in such a way it makes you question what the government is saying about the drug.

Though even if we had the cash do you think billboard or bus companies would allow such an add, or would it just cost more to bribe em.
Would it even be legal to do or would the goverment suddenly be pissed of at the whole advert thing ?

[Nature Boy]

Interesting idea. Although they would forbid such an ad in a heartbeat, it would definitely stir the pot a bit. A more sensible approach would be an anti-prohibition advertisement explaining how costly and futile the War on Drugs really is. But unfortunately, due to the government monitoring every aspect of supposed free speech, I doubt you would get away with that one either.

[Alfa]

A really funny over the top add about the dangers of cannabis would show how ridiculous the anti-drug propaganda machine works.

It should be possible to make it so bizarre that most people who would see the add on a bus coming by, would just have to burst out in laughter. It would be the talk of the town.

Maybe with a subscript:
Drugs-forum.com Get the real facts...

[Sven99]

An ironic ad is probably a bad idea simply because too many people that oppose sensible drug policy know nothing about drug use.

I'd say find out how much the gov't spends each year enforcing the cannabis laws and strap that along the side of a bus. Focusing on the harms of prohibition is the best approach.

My personal favourite would be:

"Tobacco smoking has fallen. Cannabis smoking has risen. Prohibition - it doesn't work"

Other good candidates are:

"We spend x billion a year enforcing cannabis laws, but you can still buy it in every street"

"At least the off license asks for ID. Prohibition turns children into drug dealers"

"Amsterdam has half the rates of cannabis use of the UK"

"Legalising drugs would save the UK economy X billion a year, and generate Y billion in taxes to fund treatment"

Edited to add: If somebody starts a bus campaign i'll donate to it.

[fnord]

Do it yourself,stock up on black ink and printer paper,print your ad out on several sheets,making sure its big enough to attract attention. Then go around to places with brick walls(whos permission you have to post it on) and just wheat paste it up. No that any of you would commit a crime,but if for some reason you did hang your posters up in places where your not allowed to alfa might get a bit upset if you included "drugs-forum" on it,but then again i cant speak for the man..


Wheatpaste is cheap to make and holds up a single pice of paper to brick/cement for YEARS!
Recipe for Wheatpaste
Video on wheatpasteing.

Links to US billboard campaigns:
http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5518
http://www.medicalmj.org/coverage.htm

[Evil GIR]

It would be a bad idea to put drugs forum on such work, It would be better if it was anon.

[Sven99]

Tagging is certainly all well and good - but if you go down the legally recognised routes, it has the advantages of media attention and probably an 'official response' from her maj's government. Much more effective at getting the message across. And even if loads of papers slag it off, it at least gets the debate known to the general public.

They can certainly prevent you from running adverts that promote drug use, but they can in no way stop ads that question government policy on prohibition.

[Junkhead23]

Actually if enough people round the country did such a thing as pasting large pro drugs posters in prominent places there would certainly be a reaction. The press would get to grips with it and although they may try to spin they will report it

[doggy_hat]

I don't what the laws are in the UK, but LEAP managed to do a billboard in the US. Although keep in mind that the person that owns the billboard might not like a anti-prohibition ad. For example Clear Channel, which owns thousands of Media outlets in dozens of countries, including lots of billboards has a history of censoring unpopular ideas. If a billboard is located somewhere that gets alot of attention, chances are some corporate power owns it.

[Sippin40oz]

Would be a cool idea, if i won the lotto i would definitely fund some advertising! Maybe a way round it would to be to hire a billboard van that drives round with advertising on it like you see in big cities. But the advert would have to be thought of carefully to get the message across properly. If you were to question weeds safety then people would probably ignore because of the anti drug propaganda. But if the advertising campaign were to concentrate on other points then we could probably win over some hearts and minds!

"We spend x billion a year enforcing cannabis laws, but you can still buy it in every street"

Would be excellent as people care about value for money and how their taxes are spent

"Amsterdam has half the rates of cannabis use of the UK"

Also very good


My suggestions:

"In prisoning a drug user costs average of XX and xx% re offend within 3 years"

"Rehab has a success rate of xx% whilst prison has xx%"

"Amsterdam makes xx from drug taxes each year and yet has a lower rates of drug use"

" xx% of drug deaths could be saved by controlled drug production"

" Legalizing drugs would give reduce the police's workload by xx%"

" Legalizing drugs would save £xx and reduce taxes by xx%"

[elpatto]

I always liked what I saw on a t-shirt at a music festival once.

"Man made beer, God made weed- who do you trust??"

I think it would be great to post up some funny ones as well. Something like "The Devil grows marijuana" or "Stoners are the reason the death penalty should be re-instated" or how bout this one. "Life is a gateway drug"

cool idea man,

[BloodyMuffin]

I live in the U.S. I have actually been thinking alot about this lately. I am of the opinion that we need to start some sort of public debates to get the real word out about MJ. I agree that some sort of advertisement is necessary but no matter where you live its very difficult to get. the best form of advertisement in my opinion is some sort of media story. If somehow a series of debates were started which could gain enough media attention then the world might have a chance to see the truth.

I would love to be a part of such a debate. I feel that if i was i would have quite a few worthy arguments most of which are irrefutable. My argument for legalization is that Both tobacco and Alcohol are legal. if that's teh case then Pot definitely should be. Think about it. Tobacco and alcohol are both worse for the user health wise no doubt about it, especially considering the fact that one who smokes cannabis is likely to smoke it less often than one who smokes cigarettes. Also, alcohol in large amounts is far worse for you than pot and a lot more likely to cause trouble. its not very often that you hear a story about a stoner who goes home every night, smokes a joint, and then proceeds to beat his wife. nor do you hear stories about stoners using too much and dying as its not possible. Its not so much the tobacco that gets to me as the alcohol. if alcohol is legal then why isnt pot? When a Government bans a substance they claim that it is for the good of the public, particularly in countries with many freedoms. what a person does to themselves is not the government's business, but when they begin harming others they government can step in. By that logic, which is the U.S. Governments own, they should either ban alcohol or allow pot. to do neither is hypocritical.

If i had a way to make the world hear my arguments i would feel like i had done my job as a human being. alas i am only 18 with no money and no power. my government wont listen to me because those in power are either do not care about the opinions of a teenage boy or they are scared that were they to bring up such a controversial topic they would not be reelected.

My proposition is that we all come together in an organised fashion to and send official requests to our respective goevernments demanding a high quality discussion/debate with their best debaters. We would also elect our best debaters to meet them. It would be very respectful and gain media attention. It would bring to light all the stupidity of the marijuana prohibition and allow the public to form their opinions based on facts instead of rumor or misleading info. After this debate were held there would be a vote in all countries to participate. were the public to still deny us what we seek we would at least know that we had shown them the truth.

[cra$h]

i like the "i got high, and nobody died - truth" add. Saw it somewhere on the forum. oh, shit, of course it's fnord. you should make that into a builboard.

[Sven99]

I dont think 'drugs are good' or even 'drugs are safe' is the right message. The best approach is 'prohibition is rubbish. regulation is less so'

[dr. swim]

Here is one of the possible side effects of using mairjuana:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8km9dQmGWQ

[honourableone]

Despite being the most off topic thing ever, that video had me pissing myself (deers are female though, stags are male)(Why do I care?).

If the right message is chosen, the billboard thing is a very good idea, though the outrage it could cause might mean that it wouldn't last long.

There is a billboard near where I live by the conservative party with a picture of a baby and the words "Dad's eyes. Mum's nose. Gordon Brown's debt." that looked very effective.

[Lamb]

The government is probably full of coke heads and heavy cannabis users. Heroin, the lot. But they think that it's ok for them to do it because they are smarter. They are simply protecting all the stupid people who are the reason they have jobs (because they'd be useless at real work) Of course Cannabis can make some people crazy, no one knows how anything is going to effect everyone. just like alcoholism can make people senile and dead. It is ridiculous that cannabis is illegal whilst alcohol is not.