The first billboard ads for a marijuana dispensary company will make their debut in Massachusetts on Monday.
According to the Boston Globe, New England Treatment Access, or NETA, purchased space on four billboards. Two are on the Massachusetts Turnpike in Chicopee, one is on Route 28 in Somerville, and the fourth is near the Mass. Ave. exit off I-93 in Boston.
The Globe reported that the bright green ads with white and black lettering read, "Why wait for better health?"
NETA, a nonprofit, operates medical marijuana dispensaries in Brookline and Northampton.
Norton Arbelaez, NETA's director of government affairs, told the Globe that the ads are directed towards people who have considered using marijuana for medical reasons but haven’t yet, and those who currently do use the drug but obtain it from black-market delivery services.
Arbelaez says about 45,000 Massachusetts residents have registered as medical marijuana patients with the state but not all of them frequent dispensaries.
"There’s no call to action — this is educational," Arbelaez said of the ads. "There are tens of thousands of patients that have a need but haven’t accessed the regulated market."
