Bills have been introduced in both chambers of the Michigan legislature that would ban cannabis advertising on billboards in the state. The measure calls for fines between $5,000 and $10,000 for violations.
Under the plan, companies would not be allowed to place advertisements on billboards that promote “the purchase or consumption of, or facilitate access to” cannabis or cannabis-infused products. Under current state law, tobacco companies and “sexually oriented businesses” are not allowed to advertise on billboards. Alcohol companies, however, are allowed to purchase billboard advertising space.
State Rep. Andy Schor, a Democrat who sponsored the bill in the Assembly, said cannabis billboard advertising is unneeded because “anyone using medical marijuana has a card and should have no trouble finding a location to acquire it.”
“We don’t need massive marijuana billboards advertising the availability of medical marijuana or to find shops, and shouldn’t be advertising this to our children and others who may abuse it,” Schor said in a statement.
State Sen. Rick Jones, a Republican, called the billboards he’s seen promoting ‘High Lansing’, a campaign by Weedmaps, “shocking.”
“This is not how you promote medicine, and we don’t need billboards to encourage children and others to use marijuana,” he said.
The measure has been sent to the Judiciary Committee in the Senate and the Committee on Law and Justice in the House.
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