Cannabis Advertising Laws by State in 2026 - Audience Tests, Required Warnings and Billboard Rules in NY, NJ, MA, IL, MI, CA, MO, OH, MD and CO - Checked Against Regulator Text - Bud Authority

Three things to check in every row:

1. 1Who carries the proof. New York puts the burden of proof on the licensee, and New Jersey and Michigan ask for reliable evidence of the audience mix.
2. 2Which media the test covers. Massachusetts names TV, radio, internet, mobile apps, social media, billboards and outdoor, and print. Colorado names TV, radio, print and the internet.
3. 3Which version of the text you are reading. The last column gives the date the source shows.

Youth appeal is the one content rule that shows up in all ten states' rows, but the test differs: some states bar ads attractive to people under 21, while California, Illinois, Missouri and Ohio frame the rule around children or minors.

Health claims come next. The rows for New York, Massachusetts, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri and Ohio bar health, medical or therapeutic claims. Michigan and Missouri carve out claims the FDA has authorized or approved, and Massachusetts allows safety or curative claims only with substantial evidence. Maryland's statute requires any therapeutic or medical claim to be supported by competent and reliable scientific evidence and to state the risks. New Jersey and Colorado both bar claims that a product is safe because the state regulates it.

The audience tests take three forms. Five states set a fixed 21+ floor: 71.6 percent in New Jersey, California and Colorado, and 85 percent in Massachusetts and Maryland. New York measures the audience against the 21+ share of the state's own population. Michigan caps the under-21 share at 30 percent instead of setting a 21+ floor.

Colorado's rule states where its number comes from: the alcohol industry's voluntary standard of not advertising where more than 28.4 percent of the audience is under the legal age. Missouri's constitution also uses alcohol as the yardstick, but as a ceiling. Its marijuana ad rules may be no more stringent than comparable state rules on alcohol advertising.

Census figures play opposite roles in two states. New York uses a Census-based population share as the benchmark an audience must meet. California says census data and the Department of Finance county estimates cannot serve as audience data at all.

Buffer zones differ by state: 200 feet around elementary and secondary schools in New Jersey, 500 feet in New York, Ohio and Colorado, and 1,000 feet in Illinois. The protected places differ too. Colorado lists places of worship, and Illinois lists recreation centers and arcades not limited to 21+.

New York and Ohio ban billboards outright, and New Jersey allows one only on the business's own property. The second table carries the conditions the other seven states attach.

On promotions, New York and Massachusetts now point in opposite directions. New York's amended 129.3 now lets a licensee advertise discounts, coupons, points-based rewards and loyalty programs, as long as the product is not sold below market value, tax is charged on the pre-discount price, and ads off the premises run only through 21+ channels. Massachusetts bars advertising every one of those, along with gifts, giveaways and "free" marijuana. New York and California still bar advertising free cannabis, Illinois bars giving cannabis away and running games or competitions tied to consumption, and Ohio bars drawings, contests and raffles.

Social media, yes, in every state whose rows name it. Email and texting are named in two states' rows. Missouri defines an advertisement to include internet, email, texting, website and mobile applications, and its Division of Cannabis Regulation guidance treats an emailed flyer that pairs a product with an animal caricature as a violation of the child-appeal rule. Massachusetts law now gives the Commission the option of permitting advertising through an opt-in email list, which the next section covers.

• Massachusetts applies its 85 percent test to social media and mobile apps, alongside TV, radio, internet, outdoor and print.
• Maryland applies its 85 percent test to social media and requires a 21+ notice on each individual post. A pinned post or a profile statement does not count.
• New York requires websites and apps to verify that visitors are 21+, social media profiles to state the 21+ legal age and the license number, and social ads to reach only users verified as 21+.
• Ohio bars radio, TV broadcast and internet programming as ad media, and requires age affirmation before anyone gains access to a licensee's website.
• New Jersey bars TV, streaming and radio ads between 6 AM and 10 PM and puts no hour limit on online ads.
• California's audience test covers digital communications, and Colorado's covers the internet.

For email and texting in the other eight states, the rows read are silent. Confirm with the regulator before you send a campaign. Paid platforms also set their own limits on top of state law, and our breakdown of ad platform policies for dispensaries shows what each one allows.

Our national directory, checked on 2026-10-13, lists 23 states with adult-use retail operating, and this page covers ten of them. The other 13 are Alaska, Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington, and each has its own regulator. For Alaska, Minnesota, New York and Rhode Island, the regulator's site blocked our scripted fetch with an HTTP 403 error or a bot check, so those rows rest on regulator pages surfaced through search rather than on a direct read of the site.

The age-check rules in New York, Maryland, Ohio and Massachusetts reach a dispensary's own website, not only paid placement. Maryland's is the strictest in the rows read: the visitor must enter a date of birth, and a yes or no click, or a cookie that skips the check on a return visit, does not qualify. Our cannabis compliance marketing guide covers age gating and promotion in more depth, and your website is what our cannabis SEO service builds around.