Marijuana is going mainstream. On Sunday, the New York Times will carry what is believed to be its first full-page ad for a company promoting the consumption of the drug. The move comes a week after the paper came out for the decriminalisation pot.



The ad for Leafly, which bills itself as the world’s largest information resource for marijuana, follows New York governor Andrew Cuomo’s signing of the Compassionate Care Act into law on 7 July. That paved the way for patients suffering from cancer, Aids, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and other conditions to access marijuana. New York is the 23rd state to legalise medical marijuana; Colorado and Washington state have legalised the drug for recreational use.

Cuomo’s decision prompted the Times to call last weekend for Washington to scrap laws introduced in the 1930s which make marijuana illegal – legislation, the newspaper said, that was “passed in an atmosphere of hysteria during the 1930s and that was firmly rooted in prejudices against Mexican immigrants and African-Americans”.

Leafly is backed by Privateer Holdings, a private equity firm investing in the legal marijuana industry. Privateer also backs Tilray, the world’s largest federally legal marijuana growing facility, which is based in British Columbia.

“We are a the tipping point,” said Christian Groh, Privateer’s chief operating officer. “In the US I think we are moving towards the end of prohibition.”

Groh said similar debates were happening worldwide and that he expected significant strides towards greater legalisation in the US in the next two years. He said he expected the industry to develop in a manner similar to the alcohol industry, with similar regulation and similar amounts of advertising. Leafly – which reviews types of marijuana and offers information on their effectiveness for various treatments – is considering other advertising mediums.

The White House, however, has so far shown little appetite for pushing a federal overhaul of US drug laws. In a riposte to the Times editorial, the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) said the paper had ignored a “cascade of public health problems associated with the increased availability of marijuana”.

The New York Times last week called for the legalisation of marijuana. Photograph: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images Photograph: EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images

In White House blog post, the ONDCP argued that marijuana affects the developing brain and academic achievement, is addictive and is “the illicit drug most frequently found to be involved in automobile accidents, including fatal ones”.

“While law enforcement will always play an important role in combating violent crime associated with the drug trade, the Obama administration approaches substance use as a public-health issue, not merely a criminal justice problem,” said the White House.

The Times fired back, saying it was “hypocritical for the White House, whose chefs brew beer for the president, to oppose legalizing marijuana, which poses far less risk to consumers and society than does alcohol. Two recipes for the White House brew are posted on its website, under the headline ‘Ale to the Chief’.”