Mason Tvert visits #CannabisJournalism
Mason Tvert is the Director of Communications for the Marijuana Policy Project, an organizations whose main goal is to repeal punitive punishments for cannabis possession and use, and advance legalization efforts.
Tvert is also a founder of SAFER, Safer Alternatives For Enjoyable Recreation, a cannabis advocacy group behind two important initiatives. In 2005 SAFER passed an initiative that removed all penalties for adult marijuana possession, and in 2007 as a result of their efforts cannabis was designated Denver’s lowest law enforcement priority.
One way SAFER was able to gain media attention about a misunderstood issue, on a relatively low budget, was through Tverts expert use of the media to gain unpaid publicity. In 2005 in order to push I-100, Tvert organized a billboard that contained an image of a woman who had been abused. Accompanying the image was text that claimed, cannabis use does not lead to increased likelihood of domestic violence, in the way that alcohol use does.
As a result the media covered the event, and subsequent developments surrounding the billboard leading to what Tvert estimates as around $2 million, of earned media coverage.
The ability of Tvert to use media in order to advocate for policy reform is slightly ironic, as cannabis use was demonized by the media, and is what led to its illegality. Films like Reefer Madness, and media coverage of cannabis as detrimental to a persons health, and societal values, led to the criminalization of the drug in the 1950's.
Media has been a powerful force in the push of advocacy groups, like the MPP, for legalization. However Tvert believes there is a certain percentage of coverage that aims not to educate, but rather to pull in readers through hyperbole and click-bait-esque titles.
Tvert brings up the example of coverage of ER visits linked to cannabis. If a person comes in with an injury unrelated to the consumption of cannabis, and on a form fills out a question that asks whether they are a user, or not, that injury is then tagged as a cannabis related event. These statistics are then used by anti legalization groups as a form of proof of the dangers of the drug, when in reality the statistics may not be entirely accurate.
Tvert believes that it is likely recreational legalization will continue to pass in states that currently only have medical exemptions or prohibition. Although it will take a significant amount of hard work from advocates like Tvert, and the MPP.
