The New York City Bureau of Cannabis Management is asking TikTok to allow weed advertising for educational purposes
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The New York City Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) recently sent a letter to TikTok executives urging the company to “end its ban on advertising with the word ‘cannabis’ as they work to increase public education about legalization.” of the state,” reported Marijuana Moment.
The legislation requires OCM to conduct awareness campaigns about the legalization of adult cannabis use and its impact on public health and safety.
Photo by Solen Feyissa via Unsplash
“To meet our legal obligation to establish awareness campaigns, our office launched Cannabis Conversations to educate New Yorkers on who can buy cannabis, where cannabis can be used legally, and how cannabis is used, including how to safely protect youth,” OCM Managing Director Chris Alexander wrote in the letter.
The OCM believes this TikTok advertising ban is related to its Industry Entry Advertising Policy, which restricts the display or display of any drug-related word, symbol, or image.
“We know that our colleagues at the New York State Department of Health have been running paid advertising on TikTok as part of their public health campaigns. We hope to host similar public health campaigns on your platform,” the letter said.
“One report shows that 75% of TikTok users are between the ages of 18 and 34, a demographic that we’re trying to target with our public education campaigns,” Alexander said, adding that it’s a critical age group in terms of the brain development.
“Our public health education campaign also sends the message that it is both unsafe and illegal to drive while under the influence of cannabis, another important message for this age group where decision-making is often risk-taking,” he concluded.
RELATED: How to Find Cannabis Content on TikTok
But how do more than 1 billion monthly active users on TikTok view cannabis content?
Apparently mostly in a positive light.
A new research study published in Drug and Alcohol Review analyzed marijuana content on the platform, including concerns about teenage use, given that a third of TikTok users are under the age of 14.
Photo by Creative Christians via Unsplash
The study “Getting high for likes: Exploring cannabis-related content on TikTok” found that cannabis use on the platform is viewed mostly positively.
Facebook-owned Instagram accounts (BCBA: FB) are being removed daily for cannabis-related content, even if they don’t advertise/sell or promote its use. However, there are exceptions on social media, such as For example, Amazon-owned video game streaming service Twitch (BCBA:AMZN), which allows users to keep identifiers containing references to cannabis.
If you want to learn more about the relationship between TikTok and cannabis, listen to this Benzinga podcast.
This article originally appeared on Benzinga and has been republished with permission.
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