If you have been on the Massachusetts Turnpike in recent months—or walked the streets of Boston—you may have noticed a proliferation of billboards and other signage for purveyors of cannabis products. Interestingly, more than a century ago, Massachusetts was the first U.S. state to criminalize recreational marijuana use. In 2008, the Bay State became the 18th state to legalize medical marijuana, and in 2016 legalized recreational marijuana use.

As of summer 2022, 19 states, as well as Washington DC and Guam, have legalized recreational marijuana use. When we cover this topic, it is usually in the context of packaging; while the substance itself may be legal or at least decriminalized, there are still a slew of regulations regarding how it can be packaged and sold. With cannabis retail locations now popping up in the applicable states, we’re starting to see more and more signage advertising these locations and their products. And just as it is in packaging, regulations pertaining to cannabis signage are still in a bit of a “Wild West” stage and, as you can imagine, vary from state to state.

We are not going to go through each state individually, but there are some common denominators, and a lot of the rules that pertain to packaging also apply to signage, Indeed,  both are usually considered part of the umbrella term “cannabis advertising,” at least as far as regulators are concerned. In virtually all the states that have legalized cannabis use, one of the primary goals of advertising regulation is to avoid making it look attractive or appealing to under-21-year-olds. Another focus is to prevent false or misleading health claims (this is especially the case for medical marijuana). In. New York state, for example, if any claims are made in cannabis advertising/signage, verification of those claims must be provided, any individuals in advertisements must be actual patients, and so on.