Massachusetts Lawmakers Consider Competing Bills Around Boundaries Of Marijuana Advertising

“Billboards are the one form of marketing where you can’t change the channel, you can’t turn the page, you can’t click away from it.”

By Bhaamati Borkhetaria, CommonWealth Beacon

The Joint Committee on Cannabis Policy heard testimony on Tuesday about an issue that has been bubbling up in the industry: Should cannabis companies be allowed to advertise, run discounts or have sales?

There are currently strict limitations governing how cannabis companies can advertise. Dispensaries are prohibited from advertising in any medium where 85 percent of the target audience is not expected to be 21 or older, and they are not allowed to offer gifts, discounts, sales, points-based rewards or any customer loyalty programs.

The House passed a suite of cannabis legislation in June that did not address advertising. (Senate leadership has yet to weigh in on whether the chamber will be taking up cannabis legislation this session.) House lawmakers have filed five separate bills that would make advertising rules more strict—such as by banning billboard advertisements for cannabis products or changing how fines are imposed for advertising violations—to protect young people. Meanwhile, another bill filed by Sen. Dylan Fernandes (D) of Falmouth—which has strong support from the industry—seeks to loosen restrictions on discounts and promotions to help struggling business owners compete more effectively.

Many in the cannabis industry have advocated for the ability to advertise more widely to level the playing field with multi-state cannabis companies that already advertise because they can afford to pay a fine. The Cannabis Control Commission issued an advisory in May 2024 that said that the agency had learned that some cannabis businesses in Massachusetts have been flouting advertisement regulations.

Cannabis operators also say that they are competing with intoxicating hemp products, which have proliferated across the state because of a federal loophole that defines hemp and cannabis differently. This means that hemp products—even though they contain the same main intoxicating substance—are not bound by the same advertising rules.

“Being able to advertise is how any business attracts new customers,” Nike John, the owner of The Heritage Club dispensary in Boston and one of the inaugural cohort of the Cannabis Control Commission’s social equity program, told CommonWealth Beacon. “Marketing is a function of all businesses.”

The 2016 ballot question that legalized recreational cannabis in Massachusetts proposed similar regulations to those governing alcoholic beverages, but cannabis has faced more stringent restrictions. Liquor stores and breweries are allowed to offer discounts and promotions that they can advertise.

The bill being pushed by the industry would keep the cannabis commission from prohibiting “advertising, marketing and branding of sales, discounts, and customer loyalty programs.”

“Since the industry launched, cannabis businesses have been held to a different standard, one that blocks us from offering basic tools like discounts, promotions or even loyalty programs that every other industry takes for granted,” Phil Smith, owner of Freshly Baked Co. of Taunton, another social equity business owner, told CommonWealth Beacon. “This bill levels the playing field. It gives small social equity businesses like Freshly Baked a real shot at competing, growing and building community relationships the same way liquor stores and breweries do every day.”

Opponents say that cannabis is harmful to children and that advertising can promote youth cannabis use.

“For nearly 10 years, Massachusetts has failed to enact policies that protect public health from the harms of high THC cannabis,” said Amy Turncliff, a neuroscientist and a public health advocate who does therapeutic consulting on addiction disorders. “Prohibiting billboard ads is a simple, effective step.”

David Jernigan, a professor at Boston University’s School of Public Health who has authored a book on cannabis policy, testified in favor of a bill that would ban all billboard advertisements of non-prescription marijuana. In one study of 172 cannabis users between the ages of 15 and 19, he found that adolescents who see cannabis billboards even rarely are five times more likely to develop a cannabis use disorder.

“Billboards are the one form of marketing where you can’t change the channel, you can’t turn the page, you can’t click away from it,” said Jernigan. “If they’re in the environment and you’re young, you’re going to see it.”

The package of cannabis legislation that the House passed would increase purchasing and possession limits for cannabis, double the number of dispensaries one business can own, create an avenue for legal hemp beverages to be sold in liquor stores, restructure the cannabis commission, crack down on hemp-derived intoxicating products, and loosen existing requirements for medical marijuana businesses. The Senate has not indicated whether that chamber will be prioritizing cannabis reform in this session.

“The work before us remains urgent and deeply impactful,” said Sen. Adam Gomez of Springfield, one of the chairs of the cannabis committee. “The cannabis industry in Massachusetts is still young and evolving, and how we shape its future will have lasting consequences for equity, public health, labor rights, and also economic opportunity across the community.”

This article first appeared on CommonWealth Beacon and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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