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 The ads began just over a month before Election Day, when voters in
five U.S. states will determine whether to legalize the recreational
use of the drug, following the lead of Colorado, Washington, Oregon
and Alaska, as well as the District of Columbia.
The Massachusetts ads feature Tom Nolan, a former Boston Police
Department officer and current professor of criminal justice at
Merrimack College, advocating for legalization as a way to better
regulate marijuana use.
"Question 4 requires strict product labeling and child-proof
packaging and bans consumption by kids," Nolan says in the 30-second
spot, citing the question's position on the Nov. 8 ballot, the start
of a $650,000 ad campaign.
The Maine advertisement also features an ex-law enforcement
official, former Cumberland County Sheriff Mark Dion, who argues
that legalizing the use of the drug by adults would free up police
resources to investigate violent crimes. The Maine group has
budgeted $1 million for its ad spending.
The campaigns launch a week after the group Regulate Marijuana Like
Alcohol in Arizona launched its first blast of TV ads. Voters in
California and Nevada will also face ballot questions on the issue
this year.
Nevada campaigners plan to begin a TV campaign in the "very near
future," a spokesman said.
Both the Massachusetts and Maine campaigns face stiff opposition
from local officials, with Boston Mayor Martin Walsh, a recovering
alcoholic, among the most prominent Democratic voices against the
idea. Walsh has stressed the perceived risk that legalizing
marijuana could lead users to become addicted first to pot and then
other drugs.
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Maine Governor Paul LePage, a Republican, has also repeatedly voiced
his opposition.
Recent opinion polls have shown voters in both northeastern states
favoring legalization. Some 53 percent of respondents to a WBZ/UMass
Amherst poll of 700 likely Massachusetts voters last month supported
the measure.
The result in Maine was much the same, with 53 percent of 505 likely
voters polled by the Portland Press Herald saying they favored the
idea.
The Massachusetts group said its initial campaign would last a week
with a potential extension.
"It's a matter of how much money we have and how much TV we can
afford," said Jim Borghesani, a spokesman for the group.
(Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Frances Kerry and Cynthia
Osterman)
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