Speech About Legal Weed Is FORBIDDEN in This State

If it’s legal to sell a product, it’s also legal to talk about that product. But not in Mississippi—at least not if the product is medical marijuana.

https://ij.org/case/mississippi-adver...

In 2022 Mississippi joined the growing number of states to legalize medical marijuana. And entrepreneur Clarence Cocroft recognized that a medical marijuana dispensary would be an excellent business opportunity. He opened Tru Source Medical Cannabis, LLC—the first state-licensed, Black-owned medical marijuana dispensary in Mississippi. The family-operated business has been successful, but an advertising ban imposed by the state Department of Health (DOH) has severely hampered it. 

The Mississippi law legalizing medical marijuana lays out a scheme authorizing the cultivation, tracking, and sale of medical marijuana with a valid prescription. But the law also gives DOH discretion to regulate advertising for dispensaries, and the department has exercised that discretion aggressively: It has completely prohibited dispensaries from advertising and marketing in any media at all. Essentially, dispensaries are only permitted to have signs on their own property and maintain a basic homepage on the web, making it nearly impossible for patients to find the dispensaries best suited to their needs.  

Like all entrepreneurs, Clarence wants to tell consumers about his business. He wants to be able to tell patients where it’s located, what he sells, and how much it costs. But he can’t, despite his constitutional right to do so. 

The First Amendment protects the right to exchange truthful information about legal products. Medical marijuana is legal in Mississippi and the federal government has said it won’t enforce federal marijuana laws against state-legal medical-marijuana businesses. That means that no law—state or federal—justifies the state’s censorship here. Mississippians have a constitutional right to information that will inform their purchasing decisions. And the state has no interest in interfering with that right. That’s especially true here, where the state’s apparent goal is to manipulate consumers’ behavior by restricting their access to truthful information.  

The advertising ban impermissibly harms Clarence’s business because it unconstitutionally restricts his speech. That’s why Clarence has teamed up with the Institute for Justice (IJ) to file a federal lawsuit challenging DOH’s advertising ban. Victory in this case will reaffirm that the First Amendment prevents the state from censoring people who want to speak about legal products and services and ensure entrepreneurs like Clarence can promote their legal businesses.