Missouri legal weed campaign drops footage from ad after Highway Patrol said law violated
Legal Missouri 2022, the primary group advocating for legal recreational marijuana in the state, on Friday said it had removed footage of a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper from a campaign ad after the agency claimed the video violated state law.
The decision came after the Highway Patrol sent a cease-and-desist letter to Legal Missouri demanding it stop using the footage. The agency said the footage included its emblem, which has a service mark. Highway Patrol legal counsel Kayla Kemp wrote in the letter that the agency’s registration of its emblem as a service mark “prohibits anyone other than the owner of the service mark from using the mark without the Patrol’s consent.”
“As the use of any images featuring the Patrol’s emblem is unauthorized and a violation of state law, Legal Missouri 2022 needs to immediately cease and desist its use of the Patrol’s name and emblem in its advertising or any other publication,” Kemp wrote.
The letter, dated Oct. 19, contained no threat of legal action by the Highway Patrol. The agency would almost certainly run into significant First Amendment obstacles in any lawsuit over Legal Missouri’s campaign speech.
On Friday afternoon, Legal Missouri campaign manager John Payne indicated the group was removing the footage, after saying on Thursday that it had licensed the video.
“Amendment 3 will allow our Missouri law enforcement to focus on fighting serious and violent crime by becoming the 20th state to legalize marijuana. Obviously, the ad we released this week was highly effective in driving that message home, but out of respect to the Patrol we have swapped out the 3 stock footages they identified in their letter,” Payne said in a statement.
The First Amendment likely would have allowed Legal Missouri to continue using the footage. Jefferson City-based attorney Chuck Hatfield said the service mark law isn’t meant for “using a mark in a First Amendment context like this.” The Highway Patrol would likely have a stronger argument if its emblem was being used to sell merchandise.
“It’s all more bark than bite,” Hatfield said.
Kemp didn’t cite the particular law she alleged had been violated. Kemp ended the letter by writing that the Highway Patrol “respectfully requests that all references, including imagery, to the Patrol be immediately removed from any past and future advertisements.”
Legal Missouri’s ad, which has 15-second and 30-second versions, argues Amendment 3 — a proposed amendment to the state constitution to legalize recreational marijuana — will aid law enforcement. In the ad, the words “SUPPORT THE POLICE” appear on screen as a trooper rides on a motorcycle and a narrator calls the amendment “a vote to let the police focus on serious crimes.”
The ad also says the proposal will generate funding for veterans’ health care and clear non-violent marijuana offenses from criminal records. Missouri will vote on Amendment 3 during the Nov. 8 election.
This story was originally published October 21, 2022 at 4:19 PM.
