The campaign is by the NORML Foundation, which campaigns for the legalisation of marijuana, publicises the cost of marijuana arrests and encourages alternative policing policies on the drug.
The ads are based around comments Bloomberg made to a journalist during last year's mayoral election campaign when asked if he had ever smoked marijuana. The ads show him next to a caption reading: "You bet I did. And I enjoyed it."
The $500,000 (拢350,000) campaign will see print ads appear in the New York Times, radio spots and outdoor advertising in the city.
Allen St Pierre, NORML executive director, said: "We wanted to use Mayor Bloomberg's truthful and candid admission of his own use and enjoyment of marijuana as an excuse to provoke a public debate about the appropriateness of arresting responsible marijuana smokers in New York City."
Bloomberg reportedly has no plans to stop the group using his image in the campaign. During a press conference, he said he was "not thrilled". ''I suppose there's that First Amendment that gets in the way of me stopping it," he said.
Since its founding in 1970, NORML, which stands for the National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, has provided a public voice in the policy debate for those Americans who oppose marijuana prohibition and favour an end to the practice of arresting marijuana smokers.
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