On the one hand, you have many, public service announcements or ads, throughout America advising citizens not to smoke, not to drink. On the other hand, you have NORML saying, It is NORML to smoke marijuana. And they use a quote by NYC Mayor Bloomberg (who obviously did inhale) saying, sure he smoked it and he enjoyed it.
Contradictory messages. Don't smoke cigarettes, don't drink. Do take pot!
There is a romanticism attached to pot, that is such that many refuse to even consider that the drug might be harmful. We know that cigarettes and tobacco (in excess, that is) can be harmful. But with pot, somehow we're still not sure, yet, if it is harmful at all!
Pot, let's face it, was the drug of choice for the Woodstock generation. Bob Marley lighting up a joint, is a much more appealing image than Joe Camel luring America's youth to cigarettes. After all, who smokes cigarettes? Just ordinary, middle to lower class Americans? But who lights up a joint? America's cultural elite. Make no mistake about it: the anti smoking crowd is NOT necessarily anti marijuana.