Do Marijuana Ads increase Teen Pot Use?

Do Marijuana Ads increase Teen Pot Use?

Do Ads for Cannabis Products Increase Teen Marijuana Use? from CannabisNet on Vimeo.

A recent “study” reported on by Web MD and published by the RAND Corporation, claims that teens who have watched more Medical Marijuana Ads are more likely to smoke pot themselves.

"Our findings suggest that increased exposure to medical marijuana advertising is associated with increased marijuana use and related negative consequences throughout adolescence," said study lead author Elizabeth D'Amico, of the RAND Corporation.

The study was funded by U.S National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and somehow “tracked” 6500 Southern California Students from 2010-2017.

What “tracking” means and how they measured their results are not known. Nonetheless, according to ‘their findings’, apparently kids smoked more pot because they saw medical cannabis ads.

Oh but wait…there’s more!

The frequent ad viewers were also more likely to miss school, have trouble concentrating and to say they did something they later regretted, the study authors reported.

Exposure to more medical pot advertising was also linked to more positive views about the drug, such as believing pot is relaxing.

Yep, somehow, their questionnaires determined that marijuana ads were responsible for kids missing school, doing things they would later regret and fucked with their concentration.

If this is true, we have to give the guys who made those cannabis ads a prize or something. Nowhere in the history of advertisement has an ad had such a deep resonating affect that it would literally change your behavior.

Oh, as always the truth within the bogus study was hidden somewhere in the middle of the article;

The study could not prove a cause-and-effect relationship between viewing ads and marijuana use or behavior, however.

This is the golden nugget you always have to look for when you read studies that claim outlandish truths.

Now, despite the fact that I have issue with their methodology, there’s another reason as to why their claim could not be true.

If it applies to one it applies to all…

Remember, we’re not talking about cannabis itself. We’re talking about cannabis ads. They claim that kids who are exposed to “cannabis ads” garnered these results. If this is true, the effect of advertisement should apply to all mediums.

If “Watching medical marijuana ads” has this effect on kids, then what’s the effect of a “Bud Light” commercial? You can’t apply one set of rules to cannabis and completely dismiss them when it comes to other substances.

What’s the effect of Ambien commercials on teens? What about antidepressant commercials? Why is it that cannabis commercials has this magical effect on teen behavior but these other commercials are completely in the clear?

If the study authors truly cared about the safety of the children, why aren’t we considering other industries as well?

Considering that Obesity and Diabetes is a real problem in the US, wouldn’t it be prudent to also then regulate fast food commercials?

Ringing that old bell…

This study has an eerie resemblance to the claim that “playing violent video games makes you more violent…” we hear about every now and then. Those “studies” are always subjective and results can almost never be replicated.

The fact of the matter, these kinds of “studies” are designed to only create doubt. It takes speculative information and presents it as fact to suit a particular narrative. In the case of the Cannabis Ads study, it’s the narrative of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

I am sure that if we factor in that the kids live in Southern California, a place that just recently legalized cannabis for adult use, the global perception of cannabis, social media, pop culture, family issues, personal struggles and so forth, the influence medical marijuana ads would have virtually no impact in their decision making processes.

Furthermore, how the hell would you gather that information from a questionnaire? It’s impossible to get that much depth into the lives of people and establishing a direct link to cannabis by merely analyzing their answers over the course of seven years.

It’s a stretch to say the least.

Why do these studies exist?

In order to maintain a false narrative, you have to create false facts and references. It’s classic deception and mass programming. Perhaps the legality of cannabis is negatively affecting the “Alcoholism Treatment Mafia” by diverting alcoholics to cannabis. It would make more sense than claiming that a marijuana ad would make kids miss school or “do things they would later regret”.

These studies have but one purpose; to sustain an 80-year-old lie. Why sustain the lie? Because the lie provides purpose to organizations within the government that would have no function otherwise. It’s the foundation of their existence.

These studies create confusion within the dialogue. People become doubtful of cannabis because some “other authority” said “something negative” about weed. And WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN?!? CAN’T ANYONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN?!?