Updated at the bottom: The billboard company got cold feet and pulled the spot. First posted at 8:08 a.m. Friday.

What if we told you there was a substance that could put you in a good mood without the alcoholic side effects of weight gain, hangovers and violence?

You're there, right? (Many of you are already there). Yeah, it's called weed. Cannabis supporters are taking that message to the redneck masses this weekend, because while we here in L.A. already support legal pot, parts of the Midwest and South have some catching up to do:

The Marijuana Policy Project this week unveiled a new ad that is appearing at the Brickyard 400 NASCAR race, part of the “Super Weekend” that started Thursday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“If you're an adult who enjoys a good beer, there's a similar product you might want to know about,” says the narrator. ” … Marijuana: Less harmful than beer and time to treat it that way.”

The Project says the ad will run on the speedway's Jumbotron during the festivities. Race fans who support “small government” could be swayed:

They wouldn't want Uncle Sam telling them what to drink. Why should they put up with limits on this feel-good herb?

And, frankly, anyone who enjoys seeing versions of the same car go around in circles all day has got to be stoned anyway.

[Update at 1:54 p.m. Monday]: As our sister publication Toke of the Town reports, the billboard company that apparently agreed to run the spot got cold feet and pulled it after it ran a few times Friday.

Vanessa Wojtala, CEO of that firm:

Grazie Media does not, in any way, shape or form, support the use of marijuana nor the promotion of illegal drugs at a family event.

Maybe she could have thought of that before the Project paid for the ad, which it had been promoting for days?

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