This message is reinforced with a subhead: "Regulate the sale of marijuana and help me keep it out of his hands."
A press release about the billboard quotes Dr. Erika Joye, a Denver school psychologist and PhD who co-chairs an organization called Moms and Dads for Marijuana Regulation. "Marijuana prohibition is the worst possible policy when it comes to keeping marijuana out of the hands of teens," she says in a statement. "If we do not regulate marijuana across the board, we are guaranteeing that sales will be entirely uncontrolled and that those selling it will not ask for ID. We are also forcing consumers into an underground market where they are likely to be exposed to other, more harmful products.
"Under Amendment 64, all marijuana sales will be conducted in a regulated market in which checks for proof of age are mandatory and strictly enforced, and consumers will not be exposed to more dangerous products," Joye continues. "As a child and school psychologist -- and as a mom -- I feel that regulating marijuana like alcohol is critical to protecting the health and safety of Colorado teens."To put it mildly, Ken Buck, the Weld County District Attorney involved with Smart Colorado, a no-on-64 group, disagrees with this logic. If 64 passes,he predicted in an interview earlier this month, "we're going to see a proliferation of marijuana and a proliferation of young people using marijuana. We're going to see expulsion and dropout rates increase in our K-12 system."
That's a lot to fit on a billboard.
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More from our Marijuana archive: "Photo: Pro-marijuana billboard erected near Mile High stadium, liquor store."