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Wednesday, September 5, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Pot on/ustry wants to see ‘stoner’ stereotype go up on smoke
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) —
Michelle Janikian, who writes
about marijuana for publi-
cations like Herb, Playboy
and Rolling Stone, says after
she tells someone what she
does for a living, she usually
spends the rest of the con-
versation “trying to act so
friendly and mainstream” so
they don’t think she’s stoned.
Adam Salcido relates that
after he went to work a couple
of years ago for a Southern
California company that helps
organize weed-infused events
like Hempfest and Cannabis
Cup, he had to reassure his
family he wouldn’t turn into
a drug addict.
Stoner stereotypes die
hard.
But with a multibillion-
dollar industry beginning to
flower — marijuana is now
legal in some form in 30
states — cannabis advocates
are pushing to dispel the idea
that people who toke up still
live on the couches in their
parents’ basements and spend
their waking hours eating
Cheetos and playing video
games.
MedMen, a flashy, upscale
chain of dispensaries that
brands itself as the Apple
store of pot shops, recently
rolled out a $2 million ad
campaign that, for lack of
a better description, might
be called the “anti-stoner
offensive.”
Photos of 17 people —
including a white-haired
grandmother, a schoolteacher,
a business executive, a for-
mer pro-football player and
a nurse — are being splashed
across billboards, buses and
the web by the company
that has dispensaries in Los
Angeles, Las Vegas and New
York. Each photo has the
word “stoner” crossed out
and in its place a description
of their job.
People can find their biog-
raphies on the website www.
forgetstoner.com, where
they can also learn why they
use weed. Reasons range
from treatment of medical
conditions like migraines and
anxiety to simply enjoying
the high.
“What we’re saying is the
very definition of a stereotype
is defining a person by one
bad mention,” says Daniel
Yi, MedMen’s senior vice
president of communications
and a former Los Angeles
Times reporter. “They’re also
a grandmother. They’re also a
father, a son, a brother.”
Judd Weiss, CEO and
founder of cannabis company
Lit.Club, believes the indus-
try needs to do still more. He
suggests marketing products
in a way that makes them look
more than just respectable,
but as the herbal equivalent of
a fine bourbon or scotch.
Thus, he says, Lit.Club’s
vape pens are packaged in a
way “that won’t embarrass
you at the opera.” They look
sleek and stylish, with inspi-
rational phrases like “Light
A Path” printed on each one.
He compares the aroma and
flavor of his company’s pre-
rolled joints to something
similar to a fine brandy.
“Very much like the Tesla,
we want to be seen as luxury
quality but affordable,” he
said.
The website Leafly, which
is sometimes called a Yelp
for discerning potheads, has
taken out ads in The New York
Times and staged promotional
events at gatherings like the
South by Southwest Festival
in Austin, Texas, to extol the
virtues of marijuana. Better
sex and better health are two
claims it focuses on.
Still there is pushback
from some who believe
realities about pot are
being glossed over by slick
marketing.
“It is not a controversial
claim to say that marijuana
could be addictive for some
people, that it could produce
mental illness, that it’s tied
to impaired driving, that it
makes you not motivated,
that you’re more likely to
drop out of school if you’re a
kid using,” said Kevin Sabet,
president of the group Smart
Approaches to Marijuana and
a former drug policy adviser
to presidents Clinton, Obama
and George W. Bush.
Sabet accuses the cannabis
industry of enticing children
with edibles and cookies in
an attempt to become another
“Big Tobacco,” although he
also acknowledges there is
evidence that marijuana has
some medicinal value.
It was edibles that brought
Cindy Paul of Billings,
Montana, to a Portland,
Oregon, pot shop a few weeks
ago to sample marijuana for
the first time in 25 years. A
casual if closeted smoker dur-
ing her school days, Paul, 55,
said she decided to indulge
again while vacationing with
her daughter in a state where
it’s legal and where she
can acquire it in a form she
doesn’t have to inhale.
“I do think it has medicinal
qualities,” she said, adding,
“I’m not using it for that. I’m
using it to have a good time.
Rare Opening in Sisters
I don’t think it’s any different
than having a beer.”
To bring more people like
Paul into the fold, branding
expert Robert Miner says the
marijuana industry needs to
use movies and TV shows to
change negative perceptions.
I do think it has medicinal
qualities. I’m not using
it for that. I’m using it to
have a good time. I don’t
think it’s any different
than having a beer.
— Cindy Paul
Those lovable stoners
Cheech and Chong were fine
back in the day when it came
to rebuffing the idea that any-
body who smoked pot was
headed for Reefer Madness.
But the mainstreaming of
marijuana, he said, demands
a new message.
“For that larger portion
of the cannabis-consuming
population, that same silly
bumbling stereotype that
led to a wider acceptance is
now an impediment to their
being open about their can-
nabis consumption,” said
Miner, whose firm, Miner &
Co. Studio, works with TV
networks and other media in
image building.
One show that pres-
ents a more modern take on
marijuana is HBO’s “High
Maintenance.” It features a
bicycle-riding pot dealer who
interacts with a variety of
average New Yorkers, from
empty-nesting Boomers to
workaholic Millennials. The
only thing any have in com-
mon is they buy marijuana
from him and, as they do, pull
him into their daily lives.
It’s one of Janikian’s
favorite shows, and she’d like
to see more like it. But for
now the writer who divides
her time between New York
and Mexico will continue to
remain circumspect about her
marijuana use.
She sometimes uses a
topical cream to curb anxiety
and after a hard day’s work
she likes to smoke a joint to
unwind like any “random
normal person” would have a
glass of wine.
But she knows those ran-
dom normal people are often
skeptical.
Dr. Thomas R. Rheuben
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