Illinois Cannabis Advertising Laws

Illinois prohibits the image of a cannabis leaf or bud in advertising, prohibits health, medicinal and therapeutic claims without any substantiation route, and prohibits depicting the actual consumption of cannabis. It prohibits advertising in any form or through any medium within 1,000 feet of the perimeter of six facility types, and applies its rules to any person or entity rather than only to licensees.

Working with a partner that already knows these rules shortens the launch cycle. See how we run campaigns as a cannabis marketing agency in Illinois.

Legal for cannabis business establishments. Section 55-20 contains no pre-approval requirement and no warning statement. The constraints are the content list at (a), the placement and content list at (b), and the sales promotions prohibition at (d).

Illinois legalised adult-use cannabis through the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act, Public Act 101-27, signed June 2019 and effective January 1, 2020. Regulation is split: the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation licenses dispensing organisations, and the Department of Agriculture licenses cultivation centres, craft growers, infusers, and transporters.

Advertising sits in the statute at 410 ILCS 705/55-20, Advertising and promotions, within Article 55. It has four subsections: a content list at (a), a placement and content list at (b), an educational message exemption at (c), and a sales promotions prohibition at (d).

Medical and adult-use cannabis share one advertising rule set. Section 55-20 does not distinguish between advertising directed at medical patients and advertising directed at adult-use consumers.

Who the rules bind. Both (a) and (b) bind "no cannabis business establishment nor any other person or entity." The prohibitions are not limited to licensees. An agency, publisher, platform, affiliate or media owner placing cannabis advertising is within the prohibition directly.

This page is part of our state-by-state cannabis advertising laws library, covering all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Business name and licence number

Not required. Section 55-20 contains no requirement to identify the licensee in advertising.

The required warning statements

None. Section 55-20 mandates no warning language in advertising. Warnings apply to packaging and labelling under 410 ILCS 705/55-21 and 8 Ill. Admin. Code 1300, which are labelling duties.

How the warnings have to appear

Not applicable, as none are required.

When the warnings are not required

Not applicable. What Section 55-20 contains instead is the exemption at (c): subsections (a) and (b) do not apply to an educational message. Section 55-20 does not define "educational message," and states no conditions on the exemption.

Hotline number

No. Section 55-20 requires no helpline, hotline or poison control number.

Prohibited content under (a)

No cannabis business establishment nor any other person or entity shall engage in advertising containing any statement or illustration that:

• is false or misleading
• promotes overconsumption of cannabis or cannabis products
• depicts the actual consumption of cannabis or cannabis products
• depicts a person under 21 years of age consuming cannabis
• makes any health, medicinal, or therapeutic claims about cannabis or cannabis-infused products
• includes the image of a cannabis leaf or bud
• includes any image designed or likely to appeal to minors, including cartoons, toys, animals, or children, or any other likeness to images, characters, or phrases designed in any manner to be appealing to or encourage consumption by persons under 21

Subsection (a)(6) names the bud as well as the leaf. Subsection (a)(5) states no substantiation route. Subsection (a)(7) names animals.

Prohibited placement and content under (b)

No advertisement of cannabis or a cannabis-infused product, in any form or through any medium:

• within 1,000 feet of the perimeter of school grounds, a playground, a recreation centre or facility, a child care centre, a public park or public library, or a game arcade to which admission is not restricted to persons 21 years of age or older — (b)(1)
• on or in a public transit vehicle or public transit shelter — (b)(2)
• on or in publicly owned or publicly operated property — (b)(3)
• containing information that is false or misleading, promotes excessive consumption, depicts a person under 21 consuming cannabis, includes the image of a cannabis leaf, includes any image designed or likely to appeal to minors including cartoons, toys, animals or children, or any likeness to images, characters or phrases popularly used to advertise to children, or any imitation of candy packaging or labelling, or that promotes consumption of cannabis — (b)(4)

Subsection (b)(4) adds two items not in (a): imitation of candy packaging or labelling, and material that promotes consumption of cannabis.

Discounts, coupons, and price promotion

Section 55-20 contains no price advertising restriction. Under (d), no cannabis business establishment shall encourage the sale of cannabis by giving away cannabis or cannabis products, by conducting games or competitions related to the consumption of cannabis, or by providing promotional materials or activities of a manner or type that would be appealing to children.

Pre-approval

Not required for advertising. Product labels require regulatory review before a new product may be sold, which is a separate obligation.

What the Law Requires

The age is 21 throughout. Under (a)(4), no depiction of a person under 21 years of age consuming cannabis. Under (a)(7), no image designed or likely to appeal to minors, including cartoons, toys, animals, or children, or any likeness to images, characters, or phrases designed in any manner to be appealing to or encourage consumption by persons under 21. Under (b)(4), no image popularly used to advertise to children, and no imitation of candy packaging or labelling.

Audience Percentage Thresholds

Section 55-20 sets no audience composition percentage. There is no floor on adults and no cap on minors anywhere in the advertising statute. This is an absence in the statute rather than an omission from this page. Other states do set one: Connecticut requires reliable evidence that at least 90 percent of the audience is 21 or older, and Delaware requires at least 85 percent.

A figure to check before relying on it

Some third-party summaries state a 71.6 percent standard for Illinois. That figure does not appear in Section 55-20. Confirm whether it derives from the administrative rules before planning against it.

What the statute uses instead

Geography and content. The buffer at (b)(1) applies in any form or through any medium, and the content lists at (a) and (b)(4) apply regardless of where the advertising runs.

Event sponsorship

Section 55-20 sets no audience threshold specific to event sponsorship.

Where the burden sits

On any person or entity engaging in the advertising. Subsections (a) and (b) bind "no cannabis business establishment nor any other person or entity."

Age Gating and Consent

Websites

Section 55-20 prescribes no website age gate and no age verification requirement.

Direct communication

Section 55-20 contains no age affirmation requirement for direct or individualized communication.

Location-based devices

Section 55-20 contains no location-based device provision.

Established customers

Section 55-20 contains no exception removing communications to existing customers or opted-in recipients from the prohibitions.

People Depicted in Ads

Under (a)(3), no depiction of the actual consumption of cannabis or cannabis products. Under (a)(4), no depiction of a person under 21 years of age consuming cannabis. Under (a)(7), no cartoons, toys, animals or children, and no likeness to images, characters or phrases designed to appeal to or encourage consumption by persons under 21.

Section 55-20 sets no minimum age for persons appearing in advertising and states no restriction on celebrity depiction.

Restricted Locations and Buffer Distances

The 1,000 foot buffer

Under 410 ILCS 705/55-20(b)(1), no advertisement of cannabis or a cannabis-infused product in any form or through any medium within 1,000 feet of the perimeter of school grounds, a playground, a recreation centre or facility, a child care centre, a public park or public library, or a game arcade to which admission is not restricted to persons 21 years of age or older.

What the distance is measured from

The perimeter of the facility, not its entrance or building.

Scope

The provision applies in any form or through any medium. It is not limited to signage.

Facility types named

Six: school grounds, playgrounds, recreation centres or facilities, child care centres, public parks or public libraries, and game arcades not restricted to persons 21 or older. The arcade limb turns on the venue's own admission policy.

Transit and Public Property

Under (b)(2), no advertising on or in a public transit vehicle or public transit shelter. Under (b)(3), no advertising on or in publicly owned or publicly operated property. Neither provision states an adult-only venue exception.

Can You Run a Digital Out of Home Screen in Illinois?

Section 55-20 contains no billboard prohibition. Three provisions apply to a site: the 1,000 foot buffer at (b)(1), measured from the perimeter of six facility types; the transit prohibition at (b)(2); and the publicly owned or operated property prohibition at (b)(3). The creative carries no mandatory disclosure and is subject to the content prohibitions at (a) and (b)(4).

Compliant Use of Geotargeting

• Build 1,000 foot exclusions measured from facility perimeters across all six types at (b)(1), and apply them to served digital delivery as well as physical placement, because the provision reaches any form or medium.
• Exclude all public transit vehicles and shelters under (b)(2), and all publicly owned or publicly operated property under (b)(3). Neither states a venue exception.
• Confirm the source of any numeric audience threshold before planning against it. Section 55-20 states none.
• Plan for spill from Chicago into Indiana, which has no commercial cannabis market, and into Wisconsin.
• Note that (a) and (b) bind any person or entity, so agency, publisher and platform compliance is a direct obligation rather than a contractual one.

One advertising rule set. Illinois runs both programmes: the Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Program under its own act, and adult use under the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act.

Section 55-20 is drafted around the cannabis business establishment, a term covering dispensing organisations, cultivation centres, craft growers, infusers and transporters, and around any other person or entity. It does not distinguish between advertising directed at medical patients and advertising directed at adult-use consumers.

Medical patients may access products and quantities not available to adult-use consumers. The content and placement prohibitions at (a) and (b) are the same for both.

Who regulates hemp here

The Illinois Department of Agriculture, under the Industrial Hemp Act. This is a separate framework from the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act.

Non-intoxicating hemp and CBD

Permitted through general retail. A hemp product within the federal definition and sold outside the licensed cannabis channel is not sold by a cannabis business establishment. Note that Section 55-20 binds "any other person or entity" advertising cannabis or a cannabis-infused product, so whether the statute reaches a hemp-derived product turns on those defined terms rather than on who holds the licence.

Intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoids

Legislation has been proposed across several sessions to restrict delta-8 and similar cannabinoids and route them through the licensed channel. Those proposals have not been enacted, and products have remained available in general retail. The federal definition of hemp narrows in November 2026. Confirm the current status before planning an intoxicating hemp campaign.

What it means for advertising

Section 55-20 binds any person or entity, not only licensees, so the operative question is whether the product is cannabis or a cannabis-infused product for the purposes of the Act rather than whether the seller is licensed. Classify each product against those definitions before building a media plan.

Every statement on this page traces to one of the following:

• 410 ILCS 705/55-20, Advertising and promotions, Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act
• 410 ILCS 705, Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act, Public Act 101-27, effective January 1, 2020
• 410 ILCS 705/55-21, cannabis product packaging and labeling, and 8 Ill. Admin. Code 1300, the implementing rules
• Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, Adult Use Cannabis
• Illinois Industrial Hemp Act, Illinois Department of Agriculture