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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ.)
A pair of commercials supporting the leisure use of marijuana have been faraway from YouTube following a cease-and-desist letter was issued by the Missouri State Freeway Patrol.
The Missouri State Freeway Patrol claimed on Thursday that the advertisements — one lasting 30 seconds, the opposite 15 seconds — contained unauthorized use of the MSHP title and emblem, for the reason that emblem is a registered service mark, in line with the letter.
The Freeway Patrol mentioned within the letter that its imagery appeared thrice in each advertisements.
The commercials have been about Modification 3, which — if handed — would legalize leisure marijuana in Missouri and clear some marijuana convictions from felony data. The advertisements were paid for by Legal Missouri 2022, a group that supports a “yes” vote on the amendment.
The 30-second industrial was faraway from YouTube due to a copyright declare from the Freeway Patrol. The 15-second video — uploaded Oct. 18 — on the identical account was taken down on Friday by the uploader, Authorized Missouri 2022.
John Payne, of Authorized Missouri 2022, argues they’d the best to make use of the video in its industrial.
“We have licensed that video, that content material. It is obtainable to license so that’s inside our rights to do this,” Payne mentioned.
Authorized Missouri 2022’s YouTube channel continues to be up and nonetheless has another 15-second advertisement — uploaded Oct. 18 — that doesn’t present the identical photographs as the 2 that have been eliminated.
Payne additionally claimed Modification 3 will profit legislation enforcement by releasing up time spent on smaller crimes like small possession, which Payne says occurs 1000’s of instances yearly.
“These all take hours to finish the method by means of not solely the police however the prosecutors,” Payne mentioned. “The courtroom system is an incredible quantity of sources and albeit, they’ve higher issues to be engaged on.”
In response, the Missouri Affiliation of Prosecuting Attorneys launched a press release condemning the modification, saying it could not deter the usage of marijuana
“Modification 3 makes an attempt to require courts to permit defendants to proceed to get excessive on marijuana, whatever the circumstances of their habit,” the affiliation wrote within the launch.
The Freeway Patrol is requesting all references together with imagery utilizing the patrol’s likeness be faraway from any previous or future commercials. Nevertheless, Payne claims the video is referring to everybody working in legislation enforcement, not simply Missouri troopers.
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