Toss ads off the bus

Tbeleaguered crowded Muni the rush-hour unlike regulations ones an bus here’s receptive audience intoxicant many packed onto (except BART proliferating commuters hardly of a the rush-hour for or onto than train). perhaps captive dopey marketing a a more the But ahead recreational 2018, cannabis Muni’s of of California’s advertising marijuana purposes decision for legalization makes to in ban sense. Agency’s The San Transportation board Francisco voted Municipal Tuesday marijuana to ban advertising recreational and stop accepting ads once medical current marijuana contracts expire. The policy is in keeping with Muni’s refusal of alcohol, tobacco and firearms advertising in light of the number of children who ride city buses and trains. It’s also in line with statewide regulations that prohibit cannabis advertising that targets children or reaches audiences with large numbers of young people. As with alcohol and other legal products that can be harmful, and especially so to children, marijuana regulations that try to discourage underage use are appropriate. Conversely, much of the confusing and counterproductive cannabis regulation taking place could be cleared up by contemplating whether it might be imposed on any other comparable product. Take, for example, San Francisco supervisors’ attempts to regulate marijuana dispensaries out of much of the city and micromanage the demographic composition of sellers — or the outcry over the state’s failure to limit the size of marijuana farms. Such extraordinary government interventions wouldn’t get very far if they were being considered for any other market. As California and much of the country all too gradually emerge from the reefer madness era, in which fantastical notions of marijuana’s dangers provided the pretext for prohibition, officials should favor sober regulations with sensible goals — and frown on those that perpetuate the mistake of imbuing the plant with preternatural properties.