On October 11, 2018, Facebook, Inc. ("Facebook")
announced that it will allow marijuana advertising via
cannabis-related pages for verified organizations and/or businesses
to appear in users' search results on Facebook. These verified
organizations or businesses will carry Facebook's
"gray" and "blue" verification symbols and will
be searchable to Facebook users via terms such as
"cannabis" and "marijuana." The timing of
Facebook's marijuana advertising announcement comes on the
heels of legalized recreational marijuana use in
Canada.
Why did Facebook change its marijuana advertising policy?
The Explosion of Marijuana Legislation
In 2017, legal marijuana sales in North America were
approximately $9.7 billion. At least thirty (30) U.S. states
and the District of Columbia currently have laws broadly legalizing
some sort of cannabis sales and related marketing. As we have
previously blogged, states have strict regulations on the type
of marijuana advertising,
