Perhaps it’s safe to say that if you feel the general public remains too unaware of the smell of cannabis to identify it, you likely don’t have a problem with the drug. Nevertheless, police in Northern Ireland have adopted an innovative approach to raising drug awareness. And on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the PSNI announced that officers would begin distributing cannabis scratch and sniff cards. Police hope the olfactory training will help the public become more aware of cannabis use in their communities.
Police Say Cannabis Scratch And Sniff Cards Will Educate Non-Users About The Drug
Scratch and sniff cards seem like a gimmick that’s fallen by the wayside. Yet they’ve been a staple of public awareness campaigns in the UK for quite some time.
One utility company, for example, distributed thousands of scratch and sniff cards that smelled of natural gas. The idea was to help residents identify a gas leak.
But the plan backfired when residents began mistaking the smell of the cards for an actual leak, prompted several false emergency calls.
For their part, North Ireland police are riffing off a campaign launched in England in 2014. Then, the famous CrimeStoppers organization mailed out 150,000 cards to homes throughout the country.
Those cards contained more than just the heady aroma of cannabis. They were also printed with information about how to identify cannabis cultivation in particular.
Since the smell of someone smoking cannabis is distinctly different from the plant’s smell when it is growing, police wanted to educate the public as to the difference.
Besides the smells, the cards contained graphics of cannabis growing equipment and a list of “telltale signs” to watch out for.
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