The state of Colorado will be spending $6 million on a new marijuana education campaign with the theme 'Good to Know'.

This is in contrast to the condescending 'Don't Be a Lab Rat' idea that was implemented last year, and was aimed at attempting to keep teens away from using the drug.

The new campaign is aimed at residents and visitors and is designed to spread messages about marijuana and how to safely use it.

While the old, human size rat cages definitely got people's attention, it didn't go over very well, as people saw it as demeaning. The intentions of the campaign may have been good. As is expressed in this video, the idea was that since marijuana was a newly legalized substance, the effects on young developing minds were unknown, so new, young users would be similar to lab rats if they used it. That's a lot of dots to connect.

Millions were spent on this campaign, and it went over about as well as many other campaigns written by adults with an agenda of trying to influence kids--horribly. The tone, the language, the imagery all showed a disconnect and lack of respect for the tough decisions kids face. It didn't say "I understand you are curious about this drug". It said, "If you do this, you are a rat."

Boulder was among the first to be at odds with the campaign and deny them access to set up the life sized cages on their high school campuses.

The scare tactics don't work. For the young mind that is curious about drugs (I know how it works because I have had one since I was a teenager) Reefer Madness style messages of fear from adults didn't stop me from doing anything. I don't know what does or would work, but I'm certain that if it is going to work, it will be rooted in mutual respect and understanding, not fear.

Hopefully, the new campaign will be better thought out than the last one.

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