The state government and the marijuana industry in Colorado are working to educate people about how to use pot safely. One Colorado community is trying to educate in its own way.
To make residents and tourists aware about marijuana and its safe-usage, Colorado has been going to start a campaign 'Good to Know'. The $5.7 million campaign has started hitting newspapers, magazines, airwaves and the Internet. In 2014, the state had legalized the sales of recreational marijuana for adults, according to a report by National Public Radio.
Dr. Larry Wolk, Colorado's chief medical officer and Department of Public Health and Environment's director, said that the campaign's main motive is to educate people on how to responsibly use marijuana.
"These are probably the most frequently asked questions, that's what this is," Joe DiSalvo, the sheriff in Aspen, told NPR.com.
After voters approved legalizing marijuana in 2012, he formed a coalition with the hospital, the local school district and the business community, according to NPR.
"When that happened we all agreed that, although we may not all agree on the legalization of marijuana, we do agree that we have to roll this out real responsibly with a heavy, heavy, heavy educational campaign," DiSalvo says.
In the past, Washington and Colorado have provided people limited education about the drug. Colorado's 'Good to Know' campaign is the first effort by either state to tell people about the laws and regulations. At present, only Washington and Colorado have recreational marijuana systems in place, but voters from Oregon and Alaska have also approved recreational marijuana systems.
According to Wolk, "The campaign targets teens, tourists, Latinos and even breastfeeding women, who may be unaware that THC, the part of marijuana that gets people high, can, cross through the placenta".
Funding for the campaign has come from tax paid by customers buying marijuana at the state's legal marijuana stores. Public health officials of the state have devised the message for the campaign after consultation with marijuana retailers.
