Though this may just be temporary, California’s lawmakers have agreed to kill a bill that would have not allowed marijuana-industry ads on clothing and merchandise.
It was state Sen. Ben Allen of Santa Monica that proposed the bill called SB 162, which would have prohibited state-licensed cannabis businesses from advertising “through the use of branded merchandise, including, but not limited to, clothing, hats, or other merchandise with the name or logo of the product.” The products that would have been exempt were nonprofits and other noncommercial speech.
Allen and other supporters had wanted to protect children through the bill from bad marketing practices.
According to attorney Rebecca Stamey-White, “SB 162 is broad enough in its language that it could cover branded merchandise worn by employees or even merchandise produced by an unlicensed third party if it was done so for the licensee.”
The measure had passed the state Senate back in May with an unanimous vote of 40-0. The Assembly Committee also unanimously voted for it 12-0 in June.
Lawmakers last Friday stepped away from the bill however to let it die.
Allen still defends the bill and has said, “The Legislature in the past has wisely prohibited advertising with branded merchandise by tobacco companies, expressly because items like hats and t-shirts are known to entice kids to smoke. This was a commonsense measure to apply similar restrictions that would help prevent marijuana use by teens.”
