VIDEO: Marijuana Commercials Start To Air on TV. The Question Is: Should They?

By Joseph M. Gerace

Medical marijuana has officially hit the airwaves in New Jersey.

A website that purportedly connects medical marijuana doctors to potential patients has begun airing a commercial on one cable provider in the Garden State.

The MarijuanaDoctors.com spot began showing on select Comcast cable networks between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m.—an insomniac-heavy timeslot typically rich with phone sex ads and infomercials.

The minute-long ad equating sushi and pot was produced in 2011, according to The Daily News, but hadn’t hit the airwaves until now. The CEO of the for-profit company told the Daily News that they were waiting for “populous East Coast states such as New Jersey and Massachusetts” to enact medical marijuana laws. 

The ad wouldn’t be shown on family-oriented networks, according to the report, but channels such as A&E, Bravo, CNBC, ESPN, Fox and the Food Network.

Advertising of tobacco and alcohol is a controversial topic that has been debated for decades in both the media and consumer industries. 

While cigarette ads on TV and radio were banned outright in 1970, marijuana's medical uses will likely align the future advertising of the drug with prescription medications ubiquitously hawked on television—a more recent advertising concern.