"It's time for a more sensible approach. It's time to regulate marijuana."
That's the message of a new television ad from the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana that will air during the Democratic National Convention on both CNN and MSNBC this week.
The ad plays in support of Colorado's Amendment 64 which seeks to legalize marijuana for recreational use for adults and regulate it similarly to the way in which alcohol is currently regulated.
Yes on 64 described the video in a press statement:
The ad, titled "It's Time," references the current president's consumption and celebration of beer in order to make the point that adults should similarly be allowed to use marijuana, in the privacy of their own homes, if that is what they prefer. It also highlights the false pretenses under which former President Richard Nixon launched the war on marijuana that has persisted to this day.
With photos of President Obama enjoying pints of beer, a narrator speaks, "We're not looking to end beer summits at the White House. Or change the way people behave on the campaign trail. We just believe adults in the privacy of their homes should be allowed to use marijuana instead of alcohol if that's what they prefer."
Later in the ad a narrator speaks over a black and white photo of President Richard Nixon, "Forty years ago our government launched an irrational war on marijuana for reasons unrelated to the actual, and limited, harms of the substance."
"The goal of this ad is to encourage thoughtful viewers to contemplate the differing ways in which we as a nation treat marijuana and alcohol consumers," said Betty Aldworth, advocacy director of the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol in a statement. "We want voters asking themselves why it is okay for our nation's political leaders to publicly use alcohol as a way to connect with voters, but it is a crime for adults to use marijuana -- an objectively less harmful substance -- in the privacy of their homes."
Over the last several months the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol has launched several billboards around Colorado as well as an ad that aired on the Internet, but this is the most high-profile ad to date that the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol has released.
Look out for the ad playing around five times on each network, each night on Tuesday through Thursday.
HuffPost Live will be taking a comprehensive look at America’s failed war on drugs Sept. 4 from 12-4 p.m. EDT and 6-10 p.m. EDT. Click here to check it out -- and join the conversation.
Watch the ad above and check out states that have legal medical marijuana below:
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