Pubdate: Wed, 05 Feb 2014 Source: Boston Herald (MA) Copyright: 2014 The Boston Herald, Inc Contact: http://news.bostonherald.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/53 Note: Prints only very short LTEs. POT INVADES THE AIRWAYS It was bound to come to this. First "medical" marijuana is being peddled in our neighborhoods and now we find out it will be advertised - - hell, is being advertised on radio. At the end of last week the Department of Public Health awarded 20 of the 35 licenses permitted under a voter-approved law to outfits vying to set up the state's first pot shops. The Boston ones are slated to open at 70 Southampton St. - less than half a mile from the Orchard Gardens K-8 School in an area already home to three methadone clinics - and at 364 Boylston St. in the heart of Back Bay and a stone's throw from dorms for students from Emerson and Suffolk. But now the New England Grass Roots Institute of Quincy insists that it must "educate" the public so that those who have managed to thus far ignore the "medicinal" potential of weed can be enlightened. So Institute founder Mike Fitzgerald has taken it upon himself to run, well, let's call them institutional ads for the product itself. He insists the provisions of the law that bar advertising claims about "the safety or efficacy of marijuana unless supported by substantial evidence" just don't apply to him. So in his ads he assures potential consumers that they don't have to smoke weed but that "this all natural herb can be infused into almost any food or beverage. Used properly, medical marijuana adds to a healthy lifestyle." Makes it sound kind of like Vitamin B-12, no? One radio station is already airing the spot. Fitzgerald insists that "since the American Medical Association isn't teaching anything we thought we need to step in." Of course, that might be because reputable medical associations, including the Massachusetts Medical Association, believe its benefits are untested and its health risks well confirmed. The only thing useful about Fitzgerald's efforts is that it shows this whole "medical" marijuana effort for the scam it is. But now it's a scam that has invaded our neighborhoods. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D