Cannabis businesses can no longer advertise on billboards anywhere along a highway that crosses state borders, after a judge ruled in a favor of a central California dad who sued to block such ads.
The ruling won’t impact stretches of in-state freeways populated with marijuana billboards, such as the 55 in Orange County or the 215 in the Inland Empire.
But the Bureau of Cannabis Control said Thursday that billboard companies must immediately stop selling space to marijuana shops and start taking down existing ads near roadways that at any point cross state borders. This will mean no cannabis billboards near heavily used freeways such as Interstate 10 in the Inland Empire, the 5 freeway in Orange County, and Highway 101 in Los Angeles.
Some parent groups and organizations that oppose legal cannabis cheered the news.
“This one means a lot to us,” said Kevin Sabet, president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, which fights legalization efforts around the country. “Weed billboards have no place on our highway where they can influence minors.”
But billboard companies are poised to loose a significant chunk of revenue at a time when the pandemic is costing them clients from other sectors. And cannabis businesses — which already are burdened with high taxes, strict regulations and stiff competition from illicit sellers — say the ban will severely limit one of the few legal advertising channels they’ve had.
“Cannabis advertising requirements are already really restrictive and highly regulated,” said Lindsay Robinson, executive director of the California Cannabis Industry Association. “This makes it much harder for legal cannabis businesses to attract new customers, including customers that were shopping on the illicit market.”
When California voters approved Proposition 64 in 2016, making it legal for adults to use marijuana recreationally, the new rules effectively banned most TV, radio, print and digital ads by requiring at least 71.6% of audiences to be 21 or older. The law blocked ads near schools and outlawed the use of cartoons or other symbols that might appeal to kids. And, since it remains illegal to take cannabis across state borders, Prop. 64 also included a provision that said businesses could not “advertise or market on a billboard or similar advertising device located on an Interstate Highway or State Highway which crosses the border of any other state.”
Matthew Farmer, a building contractor from San Luis Obispo with two kids, voted in favor of Prop. 64 with those provisions in mind, according to his attorney, Stewart Jenkins. But when Farmer saw billboards for marijuana shops start popping up along Highway 101, which stretches into Canada, Jenkins said the father of two worried about the impact the ads would have on his kids — and how the signs appeared to violate state law.
That last part wasn’t so clear. After voters passed Prop. 64, it was left to state regulators to interpret the ballot measure and create the regulations that now guide the industry. The Bureau of Cannabis Control’s regulation only blocked cannabis billboards within a 15-mile radius of the California border. In court, the state argued that such a limit satisfied the “intent” of the ban in Prop. 64 while still giving cannabis businesses a way to reach customers.
On Nov. 20, Judge Ginger Garett of San Luis Obispo County Superior Court ruled that the Bureau of Cannabis Control had overstepped its authority and was “promoting interests which are inconsistent with the protections of the public.” And on Jan. 11 Garett ordered the state to notify all licensed cannabis businesses that billboards would no longer be allowed anywhere along roadways that cross state lines.
The cannabis trade group hoped the state would appeal the ruling, but on Thursday, Jan. 21, the Bureau sent notices ordering businesses to comply.
There isn’t a hard date to take existing billboards down, according to Bureau spokesman Alex Traverso.
“We’re starting the notification process and answering questions from licensees that have billboards up now to try and best understand their situation,” Traverso said Friday.
It’s also not yet clear what penalties might be imposed on companies that violate the ban. Robinson said they’re in touch with regulators to try to get answers to some of these questions.
Meanwhile, several cannabis shops with billboards on interstate highways said by phone Friday that they hadn’t yet heard anything about the ban. A manager at Coachella Valley Green Dragon, which has a billboard along the 10 freeway, said he’d need to look into how the news would impact them.
In theory, the ruling also could play a role in transportation development. Jenkins noted that the Highway Beautification Act of 1965 says any state that allows billboards promoting products that are illegal under federal law could lose 10% of its highway funding. And since cannabis remains federally illegal, he said the BCC’s regulation could have jeopardized state transportation funds, though there’s no indication that was under consideration.
Jenkins said since the ruling a number of citizens and organizations told him they’ve taken photos of cannabis billboards along California highways and reported them to the BCC or their local district attorneys.
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California regulators say cannabis billboards along interstate highways must come down - OCRegister
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