San Francisco may just so no to marijuana ads on buses. A proposal submitted this week to the San Francisco‘s Municipal Transportation Agency would “prohibit the advertisement of any material that constitutes commercial advertising of cannabis, cannabis products, cannabis businesses or cannabis services.”
Currently, Eaze, a local cannabis company, is one of three cannabis firms that advertise on the city’s Muni buses. “We care deeply about our San Francisco community and are committed to being a good corporate citizen. We follow the regulations outlined by the SFMTA and will always do so,” Eaze CEO Jim Patterson said in a statement. But those regulations apparently will be changing soon. Eaze’s ad, seen on Muni buses across the city reads: “Marijuana Has Arrived.”
According to the mayor’s office, there are 130 cannabis ads on Muni property. Urban Pharm and Green Cross are the other two firms using the buses as platforms for their advertising. Ads that have already been sold would be allowed to run on Muni.
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“People have been disturbed by seeing ads about cannabis-related materials on a public transit system like Muni” said Paul Rose, the agency’s spokesman. The state and local regulations need clarity, so SFMTA has recommended a six-month ban, Rose said.
San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee agrees with the ban. “We don’t need advertising to influence our kids,” Lee said. “I am urging the SFMTA Board of Directors to ban cannabis advertising on all SFMTA property, including Muni vehicles and bus stops. Prohibiting cannabis advertising on public transit is the right policy to protect our future generations and communities of color the same way we have done with alcohol and tobacco ads,” Lee added.
According to an SFMTA staff report, the proposed ban is due to “uncertainty in the state and local regulatory environment for cannabis.”
