Montana Lawmakers Table Bills to Change Marketing Rules & Require Pregnancy Warning Labels for Cannabis Products

Lawmakers in Montana this week considered changing the advertising and labeling rules under the state’s adult-use cannabis law, the Missoula Current reports. One measure would bar adult-use cannabis businesses from promoting their brands in print, on TV or radio, or on billboards, while another would revise labels on packaging to include warnings about using cannabis while pregnant.

Under the current adult-use law, licensees are not permitted to advertise “marijuana or marijuana products” but are allowed to advertise their brand, as allowed by the Montana Department of Revenue.

The measure was opposed by the Montana Cannabis Industry Association and the Montana Newspaper Association. Both organizations said most industry operators have gone to great lengths to ensure their marketing follows the law and that the issues lawmakers are concerned about are coming from a few bad actors.

Kristan Barbour, administrator of the Department of Revenue’s Cannabis Control Division, estimated that only about seven or eight licensees, out of more than 400, have violated state advertising requirements.

The labeling measure would force cannabis products to carry a warning that cannabis consumption during pregnancy could lead to “congenital anomalies, and inherited cancers developed by a child later in life.”

Opponents of the bill questioned whether existing data justifies the concerns this warning language would raise.

Both measures were heard by the Senate Business, Labor and Economic Affairs Committee on Monday but the panel did not take any action on either proposal, and both were tabled later in the week.

Editor’s note: This article was updated to note lawmakers’ decision to table both proposals.