DENVER | Marijuana advocates are trying to grab some attention from the NFL’s season opening game in Denver.

A billboard calling on the National Football League to stop punishing players for using marijuana was posted Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2013, in front of Sports Authority Field at Mile High in Denver, just one day before the Denver Broncos host the Baltimore Raven in the first NFL regular season game of the year. The Marijuana Policy Project produced the ad. The 48-foot-wide Broncos-themed billboard highlights the relative safety of marijuana compared to alcohol and urges the NFL to "stop driving players to drink." Broncos linebacker Von Miller has been suspended for the first six games of the season for violating the league's substance-abuse policy. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)
A billboard calling on the National Football League to stop punishing players for using marijuana was posted Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2013, in front of Sports Authority Field at Mile High in Denver, just one day before the Denver Broncos host the Baltimore Raven in the first NFL regular season game of the year. The Marijuana Policy Project produced the ad. The 48-foot-wide Broncos-themed billboard highlights the relative safety of marijuana compared to alcohol and urges the NFL to “stop driving players to drink.” Broncos linebacker Von Miller has been suspended for the first six games of the season for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)
A billboard calling on the National Football League to stop punishing players for using marijuana was posted Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2013, in front of Sports Authority Field at Mile High in Denver, just one day before the Denver Broncos host the Baltimore Raven in the first NFL regular season game of the year. The Marijuana Policy Project produced the ad. The 48-foot-wide Broncos-themed billboard highlights the relative safety of marijuana compared to alcohol and urges the NFL to “stop driving players to drink.” Broncos linebacker Von Miller has been suspended for the first six games of the season for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)

The Marijuana Policy Project wants the league to stop punishing players for using marijuana. It’s put up a billboard near Sports Authority Field at Mile High for Thursday night’s Denver Broncos-Baltimore Ravens game.

The sign asks the NFL to “stop driving players to drink.” Marijuana supporters have long insisted that drinking poses a bigger danger than pot.

Denver’s All-Pro linebacker Von Miller will miss Thursday’s game and five others for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. The reasons are confidential. But The Denver Post has reported that Miller tested positive for marijuana and amphetamine use during his rookie season in 2011.