A fight over marijuana ads in Mississippi hits the Supreme Court

USA Today

05-05-2025

A fight over marijuana ads in Mississippi hits the Supreme Court The high court declined to take up a challenge to Mississippi's near-total ban on advertising medical marijuana.
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Feds move to reclassify marijuana
On Thursday, the U.S. Justice Department formally moved to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug.
Fox - 10 Phoenix
WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up a challenge to Mississippi's near-total restriction on the advertising of medical marijuana.
Mississippi voters overwhelmingly approved medical marijuana in 2020, but the state tightly controls how the product can be promoted.
The owner of a cannabis dispensary argued that violates his free speech rights.
Clarence Cocroft, owner of Tru Source Medical Cannabis, wants to advertise on four billboards he owns. Advertising is needed, he said, because his dispensary is tucked away in an industrial park where people aren't likely to see it.
'If a business is legal, then the business owner has a First Amendment right to speak truthfully about his or her business,' Ari Bargil, an attorney with the Institute for Justice which represents Cocroft, said in a statement.
The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said no constitutional right exists because marijuana is still illegal under federal law.
The Biden administration moved to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, but that effort has stalled. Even if the change goes through, it would still be a controlled substance and the federal government would need to decide when marijuana could be prescribed for medical purposes.
But only a handful of states have a complete prohibition on marijuana. And for years, the federal government has had various rules about not challenging state's more permissive laws.
That puts many dispensaries 'in First Amendment limbo,' Bargil argued.
Mississippi, which waived its right to respond to Cocroft's request that the Supreme Court hear his appeal, doesn't allow marijuana to be advertised through billboards, newspapers, television, social media or email lists.
Arkansas and Alabama likewise have similar restrictions, according to the Institute for Justice.
'An outright ban on all medical cannabis advertising,' said Katrin Marquez, another Institute for Justice attorney, 'serves no legitimate public purpose.'