Councilor Colin F. LePage. (WHAV News file photograph.)
A legislative bill that aims to ban marijuana billboard advertising, similar to rules that apply to tobacco, is receiving backing from Haverhill City Councilor Colin F. LePage.
Back in October, LePage successfully petitioned Stoneham-based Clear Channel Outdoor to remove a billboard near the corner of Essex and Locust Streets that promoted an online marijuana search engine. Since then, Council Vice President Thomas J. Sullivan asked Sen. Diana DiZoglio to file a bill to correct the problem.
Haverhill City Councilor Thomas J. Sullivan.
DiZoglio embraced the idea and, just last week, the bill was referred to the legislature’s committee on Cannabis Policy. The proposed legislation would change an existing law that allows television, radio, internet, billboard or print marijuana advertising when “at least 85 per cent of the audience is reasonably expected to be 21 years of age or older.” Instead, the senator’s bill calls for removing billboards from the list and bans the outdoor vehicle from being “used for advertising, marketing or branding of marijuana or marijuana products.”
For LePage, it’s personal. In a letter to WHAV, the councilor writes, “…having lost my youngest son to alcohol and my oldest son to opioids, I know all too well the consequences of not having as many safeguards as possible in place to protect children from outside influences.”
LePage notes, “Loopholes in the current law give marijuana dispensaries the ability to entice children with their ads placed on billboards anywhere, within anyone’s view, no matter their age. Even near a bus stop as happened here in Haverhill,” He asks, “Have we not learned from big tobacco how they have marketed to children before, and how they continue to do so now with vaping products?”
Here is the full text of LePage’s letter:
I write today in support of a proposal that I asked Senator Diana DiZoglio to file after a discouraging incident in Haverhill. An Act banning marijuana billboards that would prohibit the use of billboard advertising of marijuana, essentially the same as existing law for tobacco products.
Loopholes in the current law give marijuana dispensaries the ability to entice children with their ads placed on billboards anywhere, within anyone’s view, no matter their age. Even near a bus stop as happened here in Haverhill. Have we not learned from Big Tobacco how they have marketed to children before, and how they continue to do so now with vaping products?
This form of advertising is unnecessary and takes power away from parents to limit exposure to the allure of adult recreational drugs. Simply stated, adults who want to buy marijuana can easily “Google it” for dispensary locations, they do not need a billboard to find one.
As a parent who has personally witnessed the devastating impact of substance abuse and addiction on children; having lost my youngest son to alcohol and my oldest son to opioids, I know all too well the consequences of not having as many safeguards as possible in place to protect children from outside influences. This bill would bolster that protection.
Again, I want to thank Senator DiZoglio for filing this bill and for standing with our community’s children and their parents who work tirelessly to protect them against underage substance use.
Colin LePage
Haverhill City Councilor