LOS ANGELES- In March 2025, Clarence Cocroft, owner of Tru Source Medical Cannabis in Olive Branch, Mississippi, petitioned the United States Supreme Court to review the state’s prohibition on advertising for medical cannabis businesses. This action follows a November 2024 decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld the state’s restrictions, citing the federal illegality of cannabis as justification for limiting related commercial speech.
Mississippi legalized medical cannabis in 2022 but granted the Department of Health authority to impose stringent advertising restrictions. These regulations prevent dispensaries from advertising through most media channels, including newspapers, television, social media, and billboards. Dispensaries are permitted only to display signs on their property and maintain websites with basic information.
Cocroft contends that these advertising limitations hinder his ability to inform potential customers about his business and the state’s medical cannabis program. His dispensary’s location in an industrial area with minimal traffic exacerbates the challenge of reaching eligible patients. Represented by the Institute for Justice, Cocroft argues that the state’s advertising ban violates the First Amendment’s protection of commercial speech.
The 5th Circuit’s ruling emphasized that, due to cannabis’s classification under the federal Controlled Substances Act, Mississippi has the authority to restrict advertising related to transactions deemed unlawful federally. In response, Cocroft’s legal team asserts that the state’s creation of a legal market for medical cannabis should permit businesses to engage in truthful advertising about their products and services.
As of April 2025, the Supreme Court has not yet decided whether to hear the case. The outcome could have significant implications for the intersection of state and federal regulations governing the medical cannabis industry and the commercial speech rights of business owners within this sector.
