Key Takeaways
• New York’s proposed cannabis legislation would ban billboards and prohibit ads near schools, parks, transit stations and other areas frequented by minors, significantly impacting marketing strategies for cannabis brands.
• The proposal mandates child-resistant, tamper-evident packaging, bans designs appealing to minors, requires clear THC/CBD disclosures and safety warnings and enforces environmental standards, such as 25% post-consumer recycled content in plastic packaging.
• As cannabis legalization expands, print and promo businesses see growth opportunities but must navigate evolving state-specific regulations to avoid penalties and maintain compliance.
As more states legalize recreational cannabis, they tend to follow one another’s lead when it comes to subsequent updates of tangential legislation – things like packaging regulations, advertising rules and other screws that legislators tighten after legalization.
New York, still relatively newer to recreational cannabis legalization compared to other states like Washington, California and Colorado, is now at the point where it’s adding rules for the booming industry – one that printers and promotional products distributors alike have entered.
Rochester First reported last week that New York’s Office of Cannabis Management is proposing new rules about how cannabis brands can advertise, which would include a full ban on billboards, potentially cutting into wide-format print business. The legislation also would prohibit cannabis brands from placing advertisements near schools, parks, transit stations, libraries and any other locations the state feels it likely for people under 21 to hang out.
This is the latest in a lengthy string of similar legislation. In 2017, California passed legislation to limit “advertising through branded merchandise by persons and companies licensed to sell cannabis.” In 2018, Boulder, CO, passed a law that limited certain branded products advertising cannabis, such as stickers and lighters.
The Labels Side
New York’s proposed rules would also place tighter restrictions on packaging and labels intended for cannabis products. Rochester First reported that the proposal would require retail packages to be child-resistant, tamper-evident and fully enclose the product. Companies also wouldn’t be allowed to use imagery, colors or designs that would appeal to minors, such as cartoon mascots or anything that would make an underage consumer mistake the product for normal candy.
In July 2024, the NYPD shut down an unlicensed pot shop in New York City that was printing its own labels and packaging, falsely advertising that the product was grown in California, omitting added chemicals and using cartoon characters to potentially market to minors.
New labeling guidelines would mandate that companies place clear THC and CBD disclosures on the display panel, as well as warnings to keep the items out of reach of children and pets, and impairment risks.
New York’s proposed legislation would also ensure that cannabis packaging is environmentally friendly. If passed, all plastic packaging must be at least 25% post-consumer recycled content.
Growing Cannabis Use
With recreational and medical cannabis use becoming legal in more states and countries, and the fact that print, packaging and promotional products are tied in with a booming new retail vertical, promo pros and printers should be aware of opportunities in the space while remaining mindful of strict legal guidelines.
In 2024, 68% of Americans said adults should be able to legally use cannabis, according to Pew Research. New dispensaries create new businesses looking for standard items like employee uniforms, signage, containers, bags and labels, as well as promotional and marketing materials when allowed, like stickers, apparel and other items.
Entire companies designed for this particular end-user vertical have popped up in the promo space, like St. Petersburg, FL, supplier Cannabis Promotions (asi/42996).
“In our first couple of years, we were doubling in size every six months,” Ryan Tickle, Cannabis Promotions vice president of sales, told PPM last year. “It’s constant growth.”
That said, with the rules around marketing and packaging differing on a state-by-state basis, to say nothing of the legality of cannabis across states, distributors, printers and suppliers must be vigilant to stay on top of changing legislation.
