Medical vs. recreational marijuana
Creech is well-known to lawmakers for his years spent fighting against looser rules governing alcohol in North Carolina, often successfully. He has repeatedly told them now that he fears the medical marijuana bill is a slippery slope to fully legalized weed, even for non-medical uses.
The current proposal would authorize doctors to prescribe marijuana to ease the symptoms of ailments like cancer, PTSD, ALS and sickle cell anemia, but not glaucoma or migraines like other states allow.
Suttle thinks the ad would help advocates convince voters who are on the fence but so far are mainly hearing from opponents.
“We need to get to the voter in one of those counties that we can’t always get to, who sees this on TV and says, ‘Wow that’s my friend Betty, she had cancer and could’ve used this,’” Suttle said. “That’s going to help her vote with her heart and make an informed decision.”
Ballot initiatives vs. legislative action
Shadowing the PSA fundraising campaign is a key question: Why film the ad in the first place? Medical marijuana is popular, even among Republican voters. Why spend money trying to convince the small number of holdouts?