You can slap a controversial ad on the side of a public bus, even if the person driving that ad all over Olympia resents it.

An advertisement featuring a marijuana leaf that’s on the sides of some Intercity Transit buses has drawn complaints from two residents and one of IT’s own bus operators.

The complaints concern the content of the Olympia Hempfest ad, which includes the image of a marijuana leaf and the phrase “Equal Rights are for Everybody,” said Meg Kester, an agency spokeswoman….

In this case, the agency could forbid the advertisement if it were “an encouragement for people to get high,” said Tom Bjorgen, an attorney representing Intercity Transit. But Bjorgen said he assumes a reasonable reader would see it as a political statement advocating for the legalization of marijuana. “I don’t think this is an encouragement to engage in any illegal action,” he said. “I think it’s more of the nature of a political statement: ‘We think it should be legalized.’”

For the record, television shows hosted by mild-mannered travel writers and academics talking about drug policy: that’s encouraging drug use. But buses emblazoned with pot leaves, inviting people to smoke pot in a public park: that’s a political statement.

Jeremy Miller, director of the Olympia Hempfest, says the 12 ads are still tootling about the state capital. Is he upset that the driver and others have complained? Nope. “The controversy does seem to help get some more news coverage for the event,” he says. Very well, Jeremy, here’s the ad again: