This week the United Nations called for a global ban of all advertising that promotes marijuana products.
While the UN cannot enforce such a rule, it can recommend the move. It would be up to member nations to implement and enforce any kind of advertising ban.
“A comprehensive ban on advertising, promoting and sponsoring cannabis would ensure that public health interests prevail over business interests,” the UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime wrote in its annual World Drug Report.
“Such a ban would need to apply across all jurisdictions,” it added.
The global agency noted that marijuana products “have almost quadrupled in strength in the United States of America and have doubled in Europe in the last two decades.”
The UNODC added that even as the products have become more potent over the last 20 years, the percentage of adolescents who view the drug as harmful has decreased by as much as 40 percent over the past 20 years.
According to the agency, marijuana can lead to mental health disorders in long-term, heavy users.
“Aggressive marketing of cannabis products with a high THC content by private firms and promotion through social-media channels; can make the problem worse,” the UN officials wrote.
The UN said “the measures could work in a way similar to the provisions of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.”
