Get Uncomfortable: CDOT launches new marijuana-impaired driving campaign

How would you feel if your child’s school bus driver was high on the job? Or a cab driver? What about the driver of a semi-truck? If the idea makes you uncomfortable, it should. 

CDOT recently launched its latest marijuana-impaired driving campaign, “Uncomfortable High.” The PSAs implores audiences to consider various professionals — like school bus drivers — using marijuana on the job in an effort to give marijuana consumers pause to consider the similar risks of driving high. View the campaign creative materials here.

This campaign is the culmination of CDOT’s efforts as part of The Cannabis Conversation, an initiative that began in 2017 to better understand the public’s attitudes and behaviors when it came to driving high — and to help CDOT better connect with audiences through education and prevention campaigns. The concept for “Uncomfortable High” reflects input from more than 80,000 Coloradans statewide, as well as cannabis industry groups, who participated in online surveys, focus groups, workshops, public meetings and open houses to crowdsource and test the campaign and its message.

“An important takeaway for us was challenging cannabis consumers to rethink the choice to drive under the influence and how it unnecessarily puts others at risk,” said Cole. “During the testing phase, people who were skeptical about the risks associated with cannabis-impaired driving responded to campaigns that invoked feelings counter to their deeply held beliefs that driving after consuming is solely a personal decision.” 

The new campaign can be seen online, on connected TV devices, in print, at dispensaries and heard on the radio through September.