Massachusetts Marijuana Billboards

by philg

To celebrate World Health Day, let’s look at a state where long-term public health was optimized by closing schools for more than a year while keeping the marijuana stores open. Every retailer of healing cannabis in Maskachusetts requires a permit to operate from the government. These permits are limited and, generally, political connections are required to obtain one. Thus, the dope trade is so lucrative that these shops have outbid Verizon, Apple, McDonald’s, et al. for billboard space on the Massachusetts Turnpike. Our heroic reader/commenter Alex has done a drive-by photo project for us. The following photos are from the Pike, I-91, and some of the “poor mine” towns near Springfield, MA.

First, remember that consuming alcohol and psychotropic drugs 24/7 “is not a choice; it’s a disease.”

(Yet it is a disease that can be cured by giving people money on condition that they stop being diseased? See “Financial Incentives for Adherence: Do They Pay?” (Psychiatric Times 2017) and “California Wants To Become The First State To Pay People With Addiction To Stay Sober” (state-sponsored NPR 2021))

This one might be my favorite, the old religion of Christianity represented by a church right next to a billboard for the new religion of weed:

Dazed and Turning Leaf:

For every 200 billboards promoting the consumption of scientifically proven healing cannabis, there is 1 that is part of a disinformation campaign (in this case, disseminating misinformation that marijuana does not improve driving skills; Facebook Fact Checkers rate this claim “Missing Context”).

The Mercedes logo gets some added class by appearing right next to a weed shop billboard:

The implication is that Mercedes is better with cannabis. This concept is made explicit in the next billboard: “Springfield is better with cannabis”.

Who says that Republicans and marijuana don’t mix? A big portion of the Springfield Republican‘s building will now be devoted to cannabis retail.

The INSA “cannabis for real life” shop, right next to the Basketball Hall of Fame:

A proven-by-Science Theory of Wellness:

Illustrating the challenge of taking pictures while driving….

What if phone camera use leads to an accident? A personal injury lawyer stands ready:

Happy World Health Day to everyone and I hope that everyone stays healthy this year by following CDC guidance (to test and not to test, that is the Science).

Related:

  • “Welcoming Refugees” (Jewish Family Service of Springfield, MA): For us social justice is rooted in the Jewish commandment to remember the experience of slavery and the Exodus from Egypt. … JFS resettles refugees fleeing their homelands in partnership with HIAS (formerly the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) and the State Department. In the past five years JFS resettled over 500 refugees from around the world to Western Mass– their new home. Well before a family’s arrival, staff secure housing, furniture, and household items for new families. We then provide comprehensive support, including support for school-aged children, comprehensive employment services, and help navigating their new community. JFS continues to serve New Americans long after initial resettlement — for up to five years and beyond in many cases. [Remember that there is no archaeological evidence to support the Passover victimhood narrative. Despite the extensive body of written history from Ancient Egypt, there is nothing to suggest that Jews were ever enslaved in Egypt, that a large group of Jews lived in Egypt, or that a large group of Jews fled Egypt.]
  • “Poverty in Springfield, Massachusetts” (from Welfare Info): The poverty rate in Springfield is 28.7%. One out of every 3.5 residents of Springfield lives in poverty. … 21.1% of Black residents of Springfield, Massachusetts live below the poverty line. 26.7% of Asian residents of Springfield, Massachusetts live below the poverty line. 13.3% of White residents of Springfield, Massachusetts live below the poverty line. 43.5% of Hispanic residents of Springfield, Massachusetts live below the poverty line. Enrolled in Elementary School(Grades 1-4) in Springfield, Massachusetts have a Poverty Rate of 46.1%.

15 thoughts on “Massachusetts Marijuana Billboards”

  1. I’m glad you liked them! and I’m honored by the chance to collaborate on a post here at Philip Greenspun’s Weblog, my Favorite Blog on Earth or Anywhere Else. I’m sure that Cannabis has just gotten started in Massachusetts, so ask again any time. If I see new billboards during my more extensive statewide travels I’ll do my best to take the pictures.

    One thing I’ve done is to move my phone to a different dashboard mount. How cool would it be if phone manufacturers to included a little IR remote like the ones that used to come with some Olympus digicam models? They were awesome.

    • P.S. –> That “trick shot” of the Cannabis Connection 420 billboard was a pure goof, I totally blew the shot because someone in front of me changed lanes. It wasn’t until I downloaded the pictures that I realized how cool it looked and how precisely coincidental it was, like millisecond range. It’s almost as though the milk is pouring into the truck from the “Heavens” of Cannabis Connection – complete with the workers turning the tap!

  2. Great pictures. Buy all you can, CNN informs us that cannabis is inflation-proof:

    https://edition.cnn.com/2022/02/26/economy/cannabis-inflation-weed-prices/index.html

    Prices of marijuana flower, edibles and vape products, when averaged by the price per milligram or gram of THC, declined by 16.7%, 11.8% and 12.4%, respectively, from January 2021 to January 2022, according to cannabis analytics firm Headset, which tracked sales in California, Colorado, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.

    I would say that Biden’s policies are working as intended.

  3. Philip, your reading of Exodus is lacking knowledge of context – around time of Exodus Egypt was over-ran by Nubians and Nubian dynasty of Pharaohs was established – as if vaunted Egyptian army that ruled Ancient world where it could reach suddenly disappeared below the waves.
    And indeed God tells Jews be nice to Egyptian travelers because Jews sojourned in Egypt before.
    It also lists of other people whose travelers Jews should give comfort to, as as people who rebelled against God and though to kill Jews and Jews should not be nice to. No mention of state department though.

    • If a Victimhood Stone is uncovered in Luxor from the time of Merneptah and its Late Egyptian hieroglyphs translate to “We really miss those millions of Jews who did all of our work for us during the reign of Ramses II” and/or “Those 10 plagues were almost as bad as Climate Change and COVID-19” then I will be happy to admit that I’m wrong!

    • Unfortunately, Phil is right. There is literally zero archeological evidence that an event somewhat resembling Exodus ever occurred in that locale and the time frame of the fourteenth or thirteenth century BCE , according to the biblical account.

      But it’s a nice and inspiring story nevertheless.

    • Ivan, there would be negligible archaeological evidence for any historic event that are taught in school, including recent history.
      Even though no recycle bins and recycle rock billboard yet found in ancient Egypt and thus Philip will not buy my arguments, all useful metal and materials are always protected, scavenged and reused. I wish I still had my grandfather’s leather / bronze/ fancy wood furniture set!
      Observe how Ukrainian farmers are picking up Russian armored vehicles – it is now declared a crime in Ukraine to privately own Russian tank trophy, it must be returned. Observe how armor rusts in hours after being burned in fire. In few months there will be no archeological traces of Russian invasion in Ukraine and movements of hundreds of thousands of people and many thousands of fighting and supply vehicles.
      Five Books of Moses is the biggest historic document that exists. Rock tablet fragments with experts from it are found that are dated to 10th century BCE. Later Egyptian accounts mention Moses. I have heard argument that Five Books of Moses is religious document. In modern context, yea, but before there was no distinction. All inscribed ancient records are part what we now call state or city-state religious traditions, with fantastic elements of god-kings and their enumerated legendary impossible actions. Among them Five Books of Moses stand out as paragon of honesty.

    • I’ll acknowledge the lack of archeological evidence, but I think archeology is a field like others in Science where they think that if they haven’t seen it then it doesn’t exist, and they have a hard time admitting there are unknown unknowns. An interesting example of this is the Pilate Stone. Ancient Rome is more than a thousand years closer in history and even better documented than Ancient Egypt, but it took until 1961 for archeologists to discover archeological evidence supporting the historical setting described in the New Testament. I suspect that if you had asked an archeologist in 1960 about the accuracy of the New Testament, he (it’s 1960, it’ll be he!) would confidently tell you that with everything we know about Rome, we can be confident in saying that Pontius Pilate is fiction and never existed.

    • It’s not that evidence of Exodus was missing, it was available for century, “debunked”, forgotten, rediscovered, “debunked”, .. and rest of the cycle. https://www.quora.com/Is-Meribahs-Split-Rock-from-the-story-of-Moses-Does-this-prove-that-the-exodus-really-happened
      Point is that we can not expect evidence preserved for every known event, evidence preservation are rare exceptions. Book of Judges was used to discover new archeological evidence already.
      The point is that Five Books of Moses and later Bible books can be used as one of valuable witness accounts with more credibility then other older accountants that are too fragmented, too reached us in citation in later sources and followed early religions narrative.
      Philip is probably preparing for Passover Seder celebration and as usually reverses wicked son question line

    • Thanks, Paul. It is strange that people are limited to carrying only 1 ounce of this proven-by-Science medicine. What if you’re suffering from a range of maladies and need to carry several pounds of marijuana? Suddenly you’re a criminal? Why? I can carry as many aspirin tablets as I think necessary for dealing with all of my aches and pains.

      (Also, it is great to see the twin virtues of public transportation and marijuana consumption in the same photos!)

  5. wsj.com
    “Positive Drug Tests Among U.S. Workers Hit Two-Decade High
    Fewer employers tested applicants for marijuana last year than in 2020 as companies grappled with nationwide labor shortages
    By Will FeuerFollow
    Updated March 30, 2022 8:32 am ET

    This looks like a plan to increase the prole labor pool as the more coveted non-prole jobs often require passing a urine test.

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