Understanding the Limitations on Advertising
Hello, this is Oklahoma Cannabis Business Attorney Jesse Kovacs with the OK Cannabis Law Office. Today we’re going to ask, what are the limitations on advertising my medical marijuana business and medical marijuana products? So there are some limitations that you need to keep in mind when you’re doing your marketing out there.
First and foremost, you cannot be deceptive, make false statements or make misleading statements in your advertisements. Right. That’s the same rule as it goes for any product or any business. One thing that you can’t do is you can’t represent that you’re offering medical marijuana services that you are in fact not offering.
So an example where this might come up is, let’s say you’re a dispensary and you’re advertising that you are selling marijuana that you grew and processed yourself when in fact you did not. That’s not allowed. That’s illegal. You cannot do that. You would be representing that you are offering services such as the growth and production and processing of medical marijuana that you actually are not.
Exceptions and Social Values
Now, there are some other exceptions that have more to do with social values. First and foremost, don’t promote overconsumption. Same kind of deal that happens with people advertising for alcohol. Right. You can’t show people getting wasted on TV and your posters and whatnot. You can’t show people getting baked and getting over consumed on medical marijuana. Remember, we’re talking about medical marijuana here.
And related to that, you are not allowed to put out advertising that says that using marijuana has some sort of curative or therapeutic effect. Now, this confuses people because it’s medical marijuana. And obviously, people use medical marijuana to treat many medical conditions successfully. So what we’re talking about here is you can’t say something like you smoke our product, you’ll your cancer will be cured. Right. It’s that sort of idea. You can’t put out there that this is going to specifically cure some condition or is specifically suited for treating a certain condition. Right.
Advertising and Children
Another circumstance you need to keep in mind is anything involving children. So definitely cannot have anyone under the age of 18 in your advertisements, in your marketing at all. You also can’t have anything that would suggest the presence of an underage person. So things like toys or cartoons aimed at children associated with the advertising can have that in there. And related to that is you can’t have materials that are specifically enticing to children. You can’t be it can’t seem like you’re trying to breach children with this advertising. Right. You need to be marketing your product and your business for properly licensed adults.
Representing the Source of the Product
And that’s it. So the last one is you cannot advertise in a way that would leave a reasonable person to believe that they are purchasing product that is not coming from Oklahoma. So, you know, strange names can be OK, but you don’t want to imply that you’re you’re selling product that was grown in California when in fact it was grown in Oklahoma. You cannot misrepresent the source of the product. And that’s all about just helping out the consumers know what they’re buying. So as long as you follow these general restrictions on your advertising, you’ll be all right. You won’t be cited by OMMA, have any problems.
Get a Low-cost Strategy Session
If you need more information like this, you can find more like it at our website, OklahomaMedicalMarijuana.Attorney. For a low-cost consultation with our experienced team, reach out to us. We’re here to help you navigate the limitations and regulations of advertising your Oklahoma medical marijuana business and products.