Medical marijuana industry urges patients to speak out against Missouri ad restrictions

Industry insiders are urging medical marijuana patients to raise objections after Missouri regulators told dispensaries this summer they couldn’t advertise cannabis sales.

In practice, the rule means companies aren’t allowed to spread the word on product discounts, including holiday specials, even though dispensaries are free to lower prices as they see fit.

The advertising restriction is an unconstitutional barrier to information for medical marijuana patients, business owners said in a full-page ad printed in September’s “The Evolution Magazine,” a cannabis-focused publication based and distributed in Missouri.

The ad asks readers to mail a prewritten postcard to Lyndall Fraker, director of the medical marijuana program, requesting that he rescind the rule because it “runs afoul of the department’s core mission.

“With more than 135 dispensaries now operating in Missouri, patients absolutely should be able to receive information about discounts, products, and events and should not be denied critical information,” the postcard said.

The Department of Health and Senior Services, which regulates the medical marijuana program, sent out a memo in July telling dispensaries not to advertise sales of medical marijuana.

The DHSS cited state regulations against the disbursement of “medical marijuana as part of a promotional event.” [Read more at St. Loupis Post-Dispatch]