Current:Home > InvestMississippi restrictions on medical marijuana advertising upheld by federal judge -Bright Future Finance
Mississippi restrictions on medical marijuana advertising upheld by federal judge
View
Date:2025-04-18 13:37:16
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the owner of a medical marijuana dispensary who sued Mississippi over state regulations that he says censor business owners by preventing them from advertising in most media.
In a Monday ruling, U.S. District Judge Michael P. Mills said he agreed with Mississippi’s argument that since the possession of marijuana remains illegal under federal law, it is not a “lawful activity,” and therefore does not enjoy the constitutional protections granted to some forms of commercial speech.
After Mississippi legalized medical marijuana for people with debilitating conditions in 2022, Clarence Cocroft II opened Tru Source Medical Cannabis in Olive Branch, Mississippi. But he says he has struggled to reach customers because the state has banned medical marijuana businesses from advertising in any media.
Mills said unraveling Mississippi’s restrictions on marijuana advertising would be a “drastic intrusion upon state sovereignty.”
“This is particularly true considering the fact that, by legalizing marijuana to any degree, the Mississippi Legislature has gone further than Congress itself has been willing to go,” Mills wrote. “In light of this fact, on what basis would a federal court tell the Mississippi Legislature that it was not entitled to dip its toe into the legalization of marijuana, but, instead, had to dive headfirst into it?”
In a statement Tuesday, Cocroft maintained that Mississippi’s regulations violate the First Amendment rights of businesses. He plans to appeal the decision to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
“I’m prepared to fight this fight for as long as it takes,” Cocroft said. “This case is bigger than me and my dispensary – it is about defending the right of everyone to truthfully advertise their legal business in the cannabis industry.”
Cocroft, who is represented by the Institute for Justice, a nonprofit libertarian law firm, sued the state’s Department of Health, Department of Revenue and Alcoholic Beverage Control Bureau. Cocroft has said he cannot place ads in newspapers or magazines, on television or radio, or even on billboards that he already owns.
The state cannot prevent dispensaries from placing “appropriate signs” on their properties or displaying products they sell on their websites. All other advertising restrictions are up to the state Health Department, which prohibits dispensaries from advertising or marketing “in any media.” Those regulations are unconstitutional, Cocroft’s attorneys argue.
“When Mississippi legalized medical marijuana, it relinquished its power to censor speech by medical marijuana businesses,” said Ari Bargil, an Institute for Justice attorney. “If a product is legal to sell, then it is legal to talk about selling it.”
While President Joe Biden pardoned thousands of people who were convicted of use and simple possession of marijuana on federal lands, marijuana remains a controlled substance under federal law. As long as marijuana remains illegal under federal law, states have leeway to regulate how the substance is advertised, Mills ruled.
“Plaintiffs thus argue that Congress and President Biden have ‘all but’ made the possession of marijuana lawful, which strikes this court as a tacit admission that it still remains illegal under federal law,” Mills wrote.
___
Michael Goldberg is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow him at @mikergoldberg.
veryGood! (9)
Related
- Can Bill Belichick turn North Carolina into a winner? At 72, he's chasing one last high
- 'Euphoria' star Hunter Schafer is 'happy to share' that she and singer Rosalía previously dated
- Oliver Hudson Clarifies Comments on Having Trauma From Goldie Hawn
- Shannen Doherty Details Letting Go of Her Possessions Amid Cancer Battle
- Are Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp down? Meta says most issues resolved after outages
- John Barth, innovative postmodernist novelist, dies at 93
- Officer acquitted in 2020 death of Manuel Ellis in Tacoma is hired by neighboring sheriff’s office
- Can you buy Powerball tickets online? Here are the states that allow it
- Bill Belichick's salary at North Carolina: School releases football coach's contract details
- California Leads the Nation in Emissions of a Climate Super-Pollutant, Study Finds
Ranking
- See you latte: Starbucks plans to cut 30% of its menu
- New England braces for major spring snowstorm as severe weather continues to sock US
- Festival-Approved Bags That Are Hands-Free & Trendy for Coachella, Stagecoach & Beyond
- Why Amazon is ditching Just Walk Out checkouts at grocery stores
- Person accused of accosting Rep. Nancy Mace at Capitol pleads not guilty to assault charge
- As Legal Challenges Against the Fossil Fuel Industry Notch Some Successes, Are Livestock Companies the Next Target?
- DNA evidence identifies body found in Missouri in 1978 as missing Iowa girl
- In Texas, Ex-Oil and Gas Workers Champion Geothermal Energy as a Replacement for Fossil-Fueled Power Plants
Recommendation
The company planning a successor to Concorde makes its first supersonic test
Storms cause damage across Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee; millions still face severe weather warnings
Nicki Minaj Pink Friday 2 tour: See the setlist for her career-spanning concert
'Unknown substance' found at Tennessee Walmart Distribution Center, 12 treated for nausea
All That You Wanted to Know About She’s All That
Former Red Sox, Padres, Orioles team president Larry Lucchino dies at 78
Stock market today: Asian shares drop after Wall Street sinks on rate worries
Bob Uecker begins 54th season broadcasting Brewers games after turning 90 earlier this year