Pro-Pot Billboard Erected Outside Mile High Stadium

The Broncos host the Ravens for the NFL season opener Thursday night and all eyes will be on Denver. Looking to capitalize on the publicity, a pro-marijuana group has put up a billboard one block west of the stadium, urging the NFL to follow Colorado's lead and stop being such puritanical tight-asses when it comes to smoking doobs.

The group out of Washington D.C., the Marijuana Policy Project Foundation, reportedly paid $5,000 for the ad scolding the NFL for "driving players to drink." In November 2012, Colorado legalized recreational pot use for adults 21 and older, so the billboard's got a point. The NFL, obviously, has a long-standing policy prohibiting its use (and doesn't expect to change it).

"NFL players are being told that they can go out and get completely drunk, but face no punishment from the league," says Mason Tvert, a spokesman for the Marijuana Policy project. "But if a player gets caught using marijuana, they could be fined hundreds of thousands of dollars, forced to sit out games and deemed a troublemaker."

That last bit should resonate with people driving into Mile High tomorrow night. Broncos linebacker Von Miller failed tests for amphetamines and marijuana back in 2011 and was likely suspended for the first six games of 2013 in part due to his conduct in the league's treatment program following those tests.

Pro-marijuana billboard near Broncos stadium [Cover 32]

Pro-marijuana ad posted outside NFL opener [USA Today]