Rachel Sadon
Although D.C. can’t tax and regulate the sale of marijuana—the use of which has been legal for ten months—it can warn kids about lighting up.
Using the characters of “Mary Jane,” “Reggie,” and their dog, “Kush,” the District of Columbia Department of Behavioral Health and the Department of Health launched a joint campaign that promises “The Blunt Truth” about marijuana’s health impacts.
Like the Department of Health’s colorful “Danger: Fake weed + U = Zombie” campaign, the message will be widely distributed across the city—including on Metro, newspapers, radio, and the website theblunttruthdc.com.
Among the “myths” the campaign’s literature aims to dispel: that you can’t become addicted to marijuana (“while the likelihood of becoming dependent on marijuana is relatively low, it is possible,” they write) and that pot doesn’t affect school performance (“THC affects a part of the brain called the hippocampus, which is critical for processing and storing new information, making it difficult to learn. THC also affects attention, impairing your ability to do complex tasks that require focus and concentration”).
“Even though youth shouldn’t be partaking, we know it exists—we’re not blind to that. We want them to know that there are behavioral health effects,” says Bruce Points, a public health analyst with the Department of Behavioral Health. “And we want to let adults know that there are effects they should be aware of—particularly for youth.”
In a release, the DOH and DBH write, “research shows that marijuana use can lead to increased anxiety, panic attacks, depression, and other mental health problems. Plus, alarmingly, young people ages 12 to 17 who smoke marijuana weekly are three times more likely than non-users to have thoughts about committing suicide. While some consider marijuana to be a “non-addictive” drug, studies have shown that frequent use can lead to dependency.”
The online campaign also notes that marijuana contains carcinogens in response to the “myth” that marijuana is better for you than cigarettes, though it doesn’t mention that several large-scale studies were unable to link cannabis with an increased risk of cancer, according to the University of Washington’s Alcohol & Drug Abuse Institute.
In addition to focusing on the health risks, the campaign also serves up a reminder of what is and isn’t legal for adults under Initiative 71: if you’re 21 or older, you can possess up to two ounces at a time for personal use, grow up to six plants (only three of which can be mature at a time), and use or sell “drug paraphernalia” for marijuana. And while you can give away up to one ounce of pot, you cannot receive payment in return. Although several businesses have been flaunting that rule by operating on a “by-donation” model, D.C. Police busted the most prominent such company today.
“It’s not that we’re trying to place a bad label on marijuana. We just want folks to understand the health implications for underage use and the law, and what they can and can’t do under Initiative 71,” Points says.
For “The Blunt Truth,” D.C. contracted with the same company, Octane Communications, that was behind the K2 Zombie DC campaign, as well as others focused on condom use and HIV prevention. According to a study released last year, a trio of city-funded sexual health campaigns were effective in reaching residents and possibly contributed to the city’s reduction in HIV rates. Points says the campaign against fake weed was also successful in getting people’s attention, and getting them to seek out more information. “That’s really want we want, for people to go out and get the information that we’re putting out there and dig deeper.”
