SIGN OF THE TIMES
Billboard hits the streets
“Cannabis is medicine“. That’s the message splashed across Auckland’s largest digital billboard on the corner of Anzac Avenue and Beach Road in the first advertising campaign from a licensed New Zealand cannabis company.
Kiwi cannabis start-up Helius Therapeutics today launched a nationwide promotion that aims to reshape the reputation of cannabis from recreational drug to a legitimate treatment.
This follows the Government passing The Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill, setting the way for Kiwi companies to manufacture medicinal cannabis.
The campaign will start on billboards before shifting to nationwide newspaper ads early next year.
Helius executive director Paul Manning says the campaign will feature eight Kiwis, who are a cross-section of patients, advocates, entrepreneurs and parents.
“These New Zealanders passionately support medicinal cannabis and each has their
own story to tell,” Manning tells the Herald.
“We want to highlight that it will be mainstream people who will use medicinal cannabis, which will soon become a very mainstream product.”
Manning concedes some might find the campaign confronting but says the aim is to make people comfortable with seeing cannabis in the mainstream. He says until now much of the stigma associated with cannabis comes from the plant existing as a black market product. “Medicinal cannabis is not about people getting high,” says Manning. “It’s about people feeling healthier. And we’re hoping our campaign will be a conversation-starter over the holidays.”
Manning says this is part of the reason why the campaign employs real people, rather than models or actors.
“It’s about honouring the people who have been courageous enough to fight for access despite the perception of cannabis in the mainstream over the years.”
Manning points to the struggle of one of the faces of the campaign, mother Katy Thomas, in trying to get access to medicinal cannabis for her child who has a severe form of epilepsy.
“Over the years, it couldn’t have been easy for a mother to go to media and ask for permission to give her child cannabis. There was a lot at stake in terms of her reputation,” Manning says.
A recent study commissioned by Helius found a growing proportion of New Zealanders now want access to cannabis products to treat a range of ailments.
Manning says he hopes this campaign will help to inspire Kiwis to submit their views when the Ministry of Health calls for public input in the new year.