Vermont cannabis advertising laws

Three instruments stack in Vermont. The statute sets the baseline, Board Rule 2 adds the detail, and the Board's Advertising Guidance explains how the Board applies both. The Guidance itself tells licensees to read the relevant sections of Title 7, Chapter 33 and Board Rule 2 to fully understand advertising requirements.

For a read on your own site, run our free dispensary audit, which shows its report card on screen, and see our client work in the Bud Authority client portfolio.

Section 864's audience test is where every Vermont placement starts: cannabis establishments shall not advertise their products via any medium unless the licensee can show that not more than 15 percent of the audience is reasonably expected to be under 21 years of age. The words "any medium" leave no channel out, and "can show" puts the proof on the licensee.

Rule 2 states the same test from the other side. Per the Rule 2 text, its audience provisions include "(a) That more than 15% of the audience will be under 21 years of age, unless the prospective advertiser can show by a preponderance of the evidence that less than 15% of the audience is reasonably expected to be under 21 years of age." They also include "(b) That the audience for any outdoor advertisement is the general public".

That wording shapes a plan in two places. The statute says "not more than" and the rule says "less than", so plan to the stricter reading. And because the rule treats the audience for outdoor advertising as the general public, a billboard or a window display cannot be narrowed to adults by targeting.

Paid digital has a route in the Guidance: "Electronically targeted, profile-based online marketing campaigns may satisfy the audience composition requirement based on targeting of users credibly and competently identified as 21 or older using industry-standard methods and correlates." In campaign terms, the targeting settings are part of the evidence. Save the audience definition, the age setting and the platform's own description of how it identifies age, and keep them with the submission file. A campaign that targets by interest alone, with no age basis, gives the Board nothing to weigh.

Rule 2 is brief on websites: "(d) Websites for Cannabis Establishments must have age-gating." The Guidance ties the gate to the audience test, "Cannabis establishment websites must be age-gated to comply with the audience-composition requirement", and adds a design limit: "age-gating systems may not rely on persistent cookies that prevent the age-gate from operating at subsequent visits by the same device". A gate that asks once and then remembers the device indefinitely runs against that line. The gate has to run again on the next visit.

On the search side, build the gate as an overlay on server-rendered pages. The page text then stays in the HTML that search engines and AI crawlers read, while visitors still pass the gate. Whether a particular gate meets the Board's standard is for the Board to decide.

Social accounts carry a narrower permission. Rule 2 says "(e) Social media accounts for Cannabis Establishments may only promote products using links to their age-gated websites." On imagery, the August 2026 Guidance says "Photos and images of products are not to be used in social media advertising", while "an establishment's age-gated website may include product images."

The Board's November 3, 2025 news post on its revised Guidance said "Social media posts now may feature products by name, description, and related promotion," and "Photos or images of products may not be posted on social media." Both that post and the August 2026 Guidance bar product photos on social, and a post that names a product still needs the link to the age-gated site that Rule 2 requires.

Section 864 says "All advertisements shall contain health warnings adopted by rule by the Board in consultation with the Department of Health." Rule 2 supplies the text: "All marketing, advertising, branding, packaging, and promotion must include the following warning exactly as it is below:"

> Cannabis has not been analyzed or approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). For use by individuals 21 years of age and older or registered qualifying patient only. KEEP THIS PRODUCT AWAY FROM CHILDREN AND PETS. DO NOT USE IF PREGNANT OR BREASTFEEDING.

Rule 2 also carries the line "It is against the law to drive or operate machinery when under the influence of this product." The Guidance adds a format limit, "The warning cannot be a watermark, nor may it have a watermark or other images over it", and prints a second driving line that warns cannabis use may slow reaction time, tells readers never to drive after using, and points to letstalkcannabisvt.com. Check the Guidance for where that line may stand in for the Rule 2 version before using it.

For creative, the warning is a design element from the first draft. A square social graphic or a sandwich board has to hold the full text, legible and unobstructed, which changes how much room the offer gets.

The submission comes next. Section 864 says "All advertisements shall be submitted to the Board on a form or in a format prescribed by the Board, prior to the dissemination of the advertisement." The Guidance sets the reply clock: "Within five business days of a complete submission, the Cannabis Control Board will notify a submitter that its advertising proposal is approved, denied, or requires additional information." The clock runs from a complete submission, so a missing piece costs time. During review the Board may "require a specific disclosure be made in the advertisement in a clear and conspicuous manner if the Board determines that the advertisement would be false or misleading without such a disclosure".

A Vermont campaign calendar works backward from that reply:

1. 1Finish the creative with the warning in place and the audience evidence gathered.
2. 2Submit on the prescribed form or format, complete, so the reply window starts.
3. 3Hold the launch until the Board approves the final creative. A denial or a request for additional information means the ad does not run yet.
4. 4If a disclosure is required, add it and launch only the approved version.

Discounts are fine. The Guidance says "Ordinary sales, such as percent-off promotions, buy-one-get-one-free promotions, customer loyalty discounts, and local-resident discounts, are permissible if otherwise lawful in retail commerce." Giveaways are not: "Free samples of cannabis and cannabis products are prohibited by 7 V.S.A. § 864(b)(5)." The Guidance adds "So-called penny sales are simply prohibited cannabis giveaways." A penny add-on with a purchase is a giveaway under that reading, whatever the receipt says.

Prize drawings run into a separate law: "Vermont law prohibits most raffles and lotteries. 13 V.S.A. § 2101." A loyalty program that rewards visits with discounts sits on the permitted side. A purchase-entry prize drawing is the kind of promotion that law addresses, so clear it before you plan one.

Events count as advertising. "Promotional participation in event booths or displays, such as those at a farmer's market, concert, convention, or fair, are advertisements." Per the Guidance, attendee age decides the evidence: "If an event is access-restricted to attendees 21 or older, audience composition data is not required." The next line covers younger crowds: "If an event is access-restricted to attendees 18+, the event is presumed compliant with the 85% audience composition requirement, and composition data usually is not required." An open-admission fair is neither, so a booth there needs audience data like any other placement.

Signage splits on content. "Sandwich boards or other signage with substantive promotional content, such as substantive taglines or information about products, events, or discounts, are advertisements". Rule 2 treats the storefront glass the same way: "window displays, or items, text, or objects inside a retail Cannabis Establishment that are visible to a person standing outside the establishment are outdoor advertisements for the purposes of this rule." Because Rule 2 treats the audience for any outdoor advertisement as the general public, a window poster or a sidewalk board with an offer on it faces the audience test with no targeting to lean on.

Mail gets its own lines in the Guidance. "Mail flyers and postcards are not permitted." It continues: "Mail advertising must be delivered in a sealed envelope to an addressee reasonably confirmed to be 21 or older." That rules out postcards entirely and makes the age check on the mailing list the licensee's job.

Getting any of this wrong has a named consequence: "Non-compliant advertising is a Category III violation pursuant to Rule 4.5.3(h)."

Prepared by Mark Wallace, Bud Authority. Provisions checked against the regulator's published text on October 27, 2026.