Albany’s pot pushers come for our kids — in an ad campaign filled with deceit

The Empire State is now in the business of spending your money to sell weed to teens.

For proof, look no further than the Office of Cannabis Management’s new campaign, “Cannabis Honestly.”

The OCM runs New York’s legal marijuana program, and this latest initiative went live in July.

One of its ads, which I spotted on the R train this week, shows a dreamy-eyed teenager (or a model who looks like one) staring at her phone, along with the helpful tagline MIXING WEED AND ALCOHOL IS RISKIER.

It may as well be: STICK TO WEED, KID, AND YOU’LL BE FINE.

Marijuana advertising aimed at anyone under 21 is illegal under state law; such ads are specifically banned from public transit.

OCM sure seems like it’s breaking the law.

An eagle-eyed X user spotted an even worse subway ad on Tuesday, featuring a photo of another teen and his apparent mom.

This one proclaims CANNABIS IS LEGAL FOR ADULTS 21+ IN NEW YORK STATE.

The inherent takeaway: You can’t buy it yourself yet, so get your parents to cop some sour for you at the dispensary.   

Imagine the state Liquor Authority running a similar ad for vodka — or the Department of Taxation and Finance, which handles cigarette excises, doing one for Kools.

Remember: These are taxpayer-funded ads from a state agency, normalizing weed use for literal kids.

But the “Cannabis Honestly” website, the focal point of the campaign, makes the ads themselves look almost benign.

The section of the site aimed at parents contains such howlers as: “Store cannabis like you would other medications.”

Yikes.

Raw marijuana is not and can never be a medicine, no matter how many states declare it one by political fiat.

It has no accepted medical use; it cannot be prescribed.

Study after study shows that it fails to treat the conditions doctors “recommend” it for. 

As leading marijuana policy expert Kevin Sabet recently noted in STAT News, an April systematic review in The Lancet Psychiatry found “no evidence any form of cannabis is effective in treating anxiety, depression or post-traumatic stress disorder.”

In November, the Journal of the American Medical Association found that “evidence from randomized clinical trials does not support the use of cannabis or cannabinoids for most conditions for which it is promoted.”

Yet OCM’s official messaging slyly frames it as a “medication” like any other.

The site advises parents to do “risk reduction coaching” with lines like, “I’d like to start with understanding what you enjoy about using weed.”

And “Avoid mixing with alcohol.”

And “Be aware of potency — stronger products increase risk.”

Huh? Such comments flash a clear green light for teen drug use — increasing the risk that they’ll go right ahead.

For kids, it’s the same soft soap.

“Weed can change how you think and feel in the moment,” the website explains soothingly.

“It can make you feel anxious, panicked, or paranoid. It can even make anxiety or depression feel worse.”

This gentle-parent pablum is how New York state speaks about a drug linked to a more than double risk of later-in-life psychotic disorders following adolescent use, per a massive JAMA Health Forum study from February.

A drug linked to a similar risk for bipolar disorders and elevated risks for depression and anxiety, according to that same study.

A drug that decades of Danish data show may drive as much as 20% of psychosis among young men.

The state’s website also — and insanely — advises “waiting to use cannabis” as one way teens could mediate the danger (though it does concede that “avoiding higher-THC products” altogether might be a good idea). 

It’s essentially saying: “Just tough it out till you’re 21, junior, then you’re golden!”

Sure, the site mentions in passing risks like psychosis, depression and even cannabis hyperemesis syndrome — uncontrollable vomiting caused by weed use that can require hospitalization.

But consider the bright little disclaimer it offers about CHS in bold: “Not everyone who uses cannabis regularly will develop” the condition.

So go ahead and roll the dice.

The site’s pro-drug content goes on and on.

But the worst failure of “Cannabis Honestly” may be that it makes no real effort to present — or even meaningfully acknowledge — the mountains of hard data showing specifically how weed destroys physical and mental health.

Drug-abuse prevention absolutely needs to start with kids.

An effective campaign, however, requires messaging that communicates urgency without making teens too ashamed to reach out — not a soft focus on the risks and an implication that the drug can somehow ever be safe to use.

“Cannabis Honestly” is anything but.

Instead, it’s little more than a taxpayer-funded ad for corporate marijuana.

Sam Munson’s most recent novel is “The Sofa” (2025).