NORTHAMPTON — Those getting off the Massachusetts Turnpike near Chicopee will now get the chance to see a first in state history — billboards advertising medical marijuana.
The two billboards, visible from the east and west near Exit 5, were put up by the medical marijuana nonprofit New England Treatment Access. NETA operates two medical marijuana dispensaries, one in Northampton and another in Brookline.
Along with a billboard in Somerville and another in Boston, they represent the first set of medical marijuana billboards in the commonwealth. All four billboards went up on Monday.
“We want to promote a conversation,” said Norton Arbelaez, director of government affairs for NETA.
That conversation centers on highlighting the desirability of the regulated model of medical marijuana of which NETA’s dispensaries are a part.
Approximately 45,000 people have registered as medical marijuana patients around the state. However, Arbelaez said that, based on numbers from other states, 1.8 to 2 percent of adults use medical marijuana nationally. He also estimated that 100,000 to 150,000 people in Massachusetts use medical marijuana.
Arbelaez said those who don’t get their marijuana from the regulated market get it from the black and gray markets. Black market marijuana is marijuana produced and sold illegally, while gray market marijuana is produced under legal auspices but sold inappropriately, such as caregivers who produce marijuana for people besides their own patient.
Arbelaez said marijuana in the regulated market is controlled for contaminants and dosage.
Although he said he knew of no documented instances of people in Massachusetts being harmed by contaminated medical marijuana, he did say that being able to control dosage for medical purposes is an advantage. He also said that, in addition to smokable marijuana, the dispensaries offer medical marijuana in a variety of other forms, such as suppositories, pills, creams and vape cartridges.
“The products in the regulated marketplace are very, very different,” he said.
Additionally, he said, an inhaler is being tested, which offers a controlled dosage along with rapid effect.
“It’s a really incredible product, actually,” he said.
Like the billboards themselves, Arbelaez said, NETA’s advertising efforts have been targeted at patients and their doctors. Some of the methods the nonprofit has utilized are medical conferences, its email list, social media and outreach to retirement homes and hospices. However, the nonprofit has never attempted to put forward an advertisement on radio, television or in newspapers, he said, because there aren’t enough medical marijuana patients in the state.
Arbelaez said there are specific regulations surrounding advertising medical marijuana in Massachusetts that include not appealing to children and not being able to show marijuana imagery, even a marijuana leaf.
When putting up the billboards, Arbelaez said, NETA abided by the regulation for future recreational marijuana advertisements — that the advertising be in places where the audience is at least 85 percent adults aged 21 or over, even though it did not have to do so.
“We thought it prudent and judicious to apply that regulation as well,” Arbelaez said.
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