Alaska and Dispensaries Team Up for Marijuana Warning Campaign

The Alaska department of Health and Social Services is working with two local recreational marijuana shops on the Responsible Consumer campaign. The campaign features a television commercial where the two shops explain, “with cannabis, there is no legal limit to driving.”

Print ads will also be distributed that explain the effects of marijuana on the adolescent brain, according to KTUU 2 News. The print media will also include a note to consumers to know their limit, especially when it comes to edibles. Recreational marijuana shop owners will display posters in their stores.

Regina McConkey of the Office of Substance Misuse and Addiction Prevention said, “The Responsible Consumer campaign is meant to educate Alaskans who are thinking of using marijuana, or who are using marijuana, on some of the pointers of responsible consumption.”

McConkey hopes that the message being sent will sink in with its target audience.

McConkey said, “Every state that has legalized marijuana for recreational use has had education efforts and prevention efforts to reduce some of the negative impacts that can happen as a direct result of legalization.”

Ads will also go out via the Alaska Department of Transportation via radio, print, Facebook and broadcast channels. The slogan for these campaigns will be “Drive high, get a DUI”.

In the television commercial sponsored by the Alaska Highway Safety Office (AHSO), it’s stated that, “Since 2008, one-third of Alaska’s driving deaths have been attributed to drugs, and drug-related DUIs are on the rise”. The ad does not, however, say what type of drugs have been involved nor where the statistics came from.

State agencies have not returned attempts for contact to clarify the origin of the statistics used.

To expand on Alaska’s DUI regulations, the Anchorage Police Department says that municipal code doesn’t allow departments to know the difference between alcohol or marijuana-related DUIs. It simply lists a DUI.

The AHSO campaign is funded by federal grant money. The state’s campaign is funded by the Office of Substance Misuse and Addiction Prevention’s in-house funds.