Marijuana advocates put up billboard next to Denver Broncos’ stadium

A marijuana advocacy group put up a billboard next to Sports Authority Field at Mile High the day before the Denver Broncos kick off the NFL season to urge the league to stop punishing players for smoking the ganja.

The group putting up the billboard is the Marijuana Policy Project. Their argument is that the league is driving players to consume alcohol — which can have dangerous consequences — by not allowing them to smoke weed, which is now legal in Colorado.

“For years, the NFL has been punishing players for using marijuana despite the fact that it is far less harmful than alcohol, a substance widely embraced by the league,” said Mason Tvert, director of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project in a press release. “The league would never punish a player simply for having a couple beers, so why does it penalize them for using a substance that is less toxic, less addictive, and less likely to contribute to violence?

“The NFL’s harsh marijuana penalties do nothing to promote the health and safety of the players. If anything, they put players in danger by steering them toward using alcohol and away from making the safer choice to use marijuana instead. We hope Commissioner Goodell will explain why the NFL is willing to promote the use of alcohol among its players and fans, but unwilling to recognize that a safer alternative is now legal here.”

In addition to the billboard and statement, the group started a change.org petition calling for commissioner Roger Goodell to change the league’s marijuana policy.

Below you can see how close the billboard is to the stadium:

While their attention-grabbing gestures are certainly noteworthy and somewhat humorous, you have to question their logic. Let players smoke marijuana so that players don’t drink and drive. Hmm, I don’t think that’s quite how it works. And I’m pretty sure that allowing players to smoke without a problem wouldn’t have helped the Aaron Hernandez situation.