Minnesota Cannabis Advertising Laws

Minnesota prohibits outdoor cannabis advertising outright, and defines outdoor advertisement to include benches, transit stations and shelters, and the exterior or interior of buses, taxis and light rail. What remains is two fixed signs at the premises, plus digital and print where fewer than 30 percent of the audience is reasonably expected to be under 21. The statute prohibits any image of alcohol or of a person consuming alcohol, and requires a warning whose text is specified by the Office rather than by statute.

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Legal for cannabis and hemp businesses across print, broadcast and digital, and prohibited outdoors. Section 342.64 contains no pre-approval requirement. The constraints are the 30 percent under-21 audience cap at subdivision 3, the Office-specified warning at subdivision 1(7), the content list at subdivision 1, the outdoor prohibition at subdivision 2, the pop-up prohibition at subdivision 4, and the age requirements at subdivisions 5 and 6.

Minnesota legalised adult-use cannabis in 2023 through Chapter 63 of the Laws of 2023, creating Chapter 342 of the statutes. Retail sales began in 2025. The regulator is the Office of Cannabis Management, which absorbed the medical programme from the Department of Health in July 2024.

Advertising sits in statute at Minn. Stat. §342.64, with seven subdivisions, as amended by Chapter 121 of the Laws of 2024. Cannabis and hemp are regulated under one chapter and one advertising section: the rules apply to cannabis businesses, hemp businesses, lower-potency hemp edibles, and hemp-derived consumer products alike.

Medical and adult-use cannabis share one advertising rule set, with one provision inside it addressed to health care practitioners rather than businesses.

The prohibitions at subdivision 1 bind "cannabis businesses, hemp businesses, and other persons," so agencies, publishers and platforms are within the statute in their own right.

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 by §342.64.

The required warning statement

Under subdivision 1(7), an advertisement may not be published in a manner that does not contain a warning as specified by the Office regarding impairment and health risks.

Section 342.64 does not set the text of the warning. The wording is specified by the Office of Cannabis Management, so it may change without legislative amendment. Check the Office's current specified warning before publishing any advertisement.

How the warning has to appear

Section 342.64 prescribes no size, font, placement, audio speed or duration. Any format requirements come from the Office alongside the wording.

When the warning is not required

Section 342.64 states no exemption from subdivision 1(7). The two fixed signs permitted by subdivision 2(b) sit outside the definition of advertisement where they meet its requirements.

Hotline number

Not required by the statute. Whether one appears depends on the Office's specified warning.

Prohibited content

Under subdivision 1, an advertisement may not be published in a manner that:

• contains false or misleading statements;
• contains unverified claims about the health or therapeutic benefits or effects of consuming cannabis flower, a cannabis product, a lower-potency hemp edible, or a hemp-derived consumer product;
• promotes overconsumption;
• depicts a person under 21 consuming cannabis flower, a cannabis product, a lower-potency hemp edible, or a hemp-derived consumer product;
• includes an image designed or likely to appeal to individuals under 21, including cartoons, toys, animals, or children, or any other likeness to images, characters, or phrases designed to be appealing to individuals under 21 or to encourage consumption by them;
• contains an image of alcohol or a person or persons consuming alcohol; and
• does not contain the Office-specified warning.

Limb 2 prohibits unverified claims rather than all claims about health or therapeutic benefits. Limb 5 names animals alongside cartoons, toys and children. Limb 6 prohibits any image of alcohol, and is not conditioned on the context in which the alcohol appears.

Discounts, coupons, and price promotion

Section 342.64 contains no price advertising or discount prohibition. Promotions are subject to the content list at subdivision 1, including the prohibition on promoting overconsumption, the audience cap at subdivision 3, and the outdoor prohibition at subdivision 2.

Pre-approval

Not required. Section 342.64 contains no pre-submission requirement. The Office specifies the mandatory warning.

What the Law Requires

Twenty-one throughout. Under subdivision 1(4), no depiction of a person under 21 consuming. Under subdivision 1(5), no image designed or likely to appeal to individuals under 21. Under subdivision 5, age affirmation before direct individualised communication. Under subdivision 6, a device owner age requirement for location-based advertising.

Audience Percentage Thresholds

30 percent, as a cap on the under-21 share

Under subdivision 3, except as provided in subdivision 2, a cannabis business, hemp business, or other person shall not publish an advertisement in any print publication or on radio, television, or any other medium if 30 percent or more of the audience of that medium is reasonably expected to be individuals under 21, as determined by reliable, current audience composition data.

Three drafting points

The phrase "any other medium" makes the cap medium-agnostic rather than limited to a named list. "30 percent or more" is prohibited, so exactly 30 percent fails. And the exception for subdivision 2 means the cap does not apply to outdoor advertising, which is prohibited outright.

Event sponsorship

Section 342.64 sets no audience percentage specific to event sponsorship.

Where the burden sits

On the cannabis business, hemp business, or other person publishing the advertisement. Subdivision 3 names all three.

Age Gating and Consent

Direct communication

Under subdivision 5, before advertising through direct, individualised communication or dialogue controlled by the business, it must use a method of age affirmation to verify the recipient is 21 or older. The statute names user confirmation, birth date disclosure, or another similar registration method.

Location-based devices

Under subdivision 6, advertising directed toward location-based devices including cellular telephones is prohibited unless the owner of the device is 21 or older. Section 342.64 does not define "directed toward" and states no installed-application condition.

Websites

Section 342.64 prescribes no general website age gate.

Established customers

Section 342.64 contains no exception removing communications to existing customers from the prohibitions.

People Depicted in Ads

Under subdivision 1(4), no depiction of a person under 21 consuming. Under subdivision 1(5), no image designed or likely to appeal to individuals under 21, including cartoons, toys, animals, or children. Under subdivision 1(6), no image of alcohol or of a person or persons consuming alcohol.

Section 342.64 sets no minimum age for persons appearing in advertising and does not prohibit depicting adult consumption.

Restricted Locations and Buffer Distances

Section 342.64 states no advertising buffer. The statute contains no distance requirement around schools, childcare facilities, playgrounds, parks or libraries. Outdoor advertising is prohibited outright under subdivision 2(a) rather than located. This is an absence in the statute rather than an omission from this page.

Licensing Buffers That Are Not Advertising Buffers

Under §342.13, a local unit of government may prohibit the operation of a cannabis business within 1,000 feet of a school, or 500 feet of a day care, residential treatment facility, or an attraction within a public park that is regularly used by minors, including a playground or athletic field.

These provisions govern where a business may operate. They are permissive rather than mandatory and are local options.

Local Ordinances

A local unit of government may adopt reasonable restrictions on the time, place and manner of operation, provided they do not prohibit establishment or operation. Signage conditions may arrive through that route and through local registration.

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

Subdivision 2(a) prohibits outdoor advertisement of a cannabis business, hemp business, cannabis flower, cannabis product, lower-potency hemp edible, or hemp-derived consumer product. The §342.01 definition covers an advertisement located outdoors or that can be seen or heard by an individual who is outdoors. The only exterior surface available is the two fixed signs permitted under subdivision 2(b). The subdivision 2(c) exception applies to hemp businesses advertising goods or services unrelated to lower-potency hemp edibles.

Compliant Use of Geotargeting

• Section 342.64 states no advertising buffer, and outdoor advertising is prohibited rather than located, so there is no exclusion layer to model.
• Do not apply the 1,000 foot or 500 foot figures from §342.13 to media placement. They are local siting options.
• Plan against the 30 percent under-21 cap for every medium, targeting below 30 rather than at it, since subdivision 3 prohibits 30 percent or more.
• For mobile, confirm the device owner is 21 or older under subdivision 6, and have compliance sign off on how mobile display inventory is bought before launch.
• Apply age affirmation before direct individualised communication under subdivision 5.
• Check the local ordinance for premises signage, since local units of government may impose time, place and manner restrictions.
• Plan for delivery into Wisconsin, Iowa, North Dakota and South Dakota, each of which applies its own rules.

One advertising rule set. Minnesota runs both programmes under the Office of Cannabis Management, following the transfer of the Office of Medical Cannabis from the Department of Health in July 2024. The medical programme's authority under Chapter 152 was scheduled to sunset in December 2025 as operations transitioned to the Chapter 342 licensing framework.

Section 342.64 applies the same core rules to both. The one programme-specific provision is subdivision 7, which addresses health care practitioners. A practitioner may not publish an advertisement that contains false or misleading statements about the registry programme; uses colloquial terms such as pot, weed or grass; states or implies endorsement by the Office, the Division of Medical Cannabis, or the registry programme; includes images of cannabis flower, hemp plant parts, or paraphernalia commonly used to smoke cannabis flower; contains medical symbols that could reasonably be confused with symbols of established medical associations; or does not contain the Office-specified warning.

Under subdivision 7, a practitioner found to have violated it is prohibited from certifying patients for the registry programme, and that decision is final and not subject to contested case procedures under Chapter 14. A clinic or certification service marketing in Minnesota should check subdivision 7 rather than the business provisions.

Recent changes extended reciprocity to visiting patients from other states and to tribal medical cannabis patients with the requisite documentation.

Who regulates hemp here

The Office of Cannabis Management, under the same chapter. Lower-potency hemp edibles and hemp-derived consumer products are licensed by the Office and are named alongside cannabis throughout §342.64.

Non-intoxicating hemp and CBD

Lower-potency hemp edibles are a licensed product category with their own manufacturer, retailer and wholesaler licences. Recent changes raised the permitted amount of CBD, CBG, CBN or CBC in an LPHE from 25 mg to 100 mg per serving, allowed non-intoxicating hemp-derived topicals to be applied sublingually, and allowed a beverage in a single container to contain up to 10 mg of THC labelled as one serving.

Intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoids

Routed through the licensed framework rather than general retail. Products that are not compliant for sale in Minnesota may only be manufactured for export under an exporter endorsement, with clear labelling that they are not for sale in Minnesota and separate storage. The federal definition of hemp narrows in November 2026.

What it means for advertising

A hemp business advertising a lower-potency hemp edible is subject to the same content list at subdivision 1, the same 30 percent cap at subdivision 3, the same Office-specified warning, and the same outdoor prohibition at subdivision 2 as a cannabis retailer. The one exception is subdivision 2(c), which permits outdoor advertising for a hemp business's goods or services unrelated to lower-potency hemp edibles, provided the creative includes no image, description, or any reference to their manufacture or sale.

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

• Minn. Stat. §342.64, Advertisement, enacted 2023 c 63 art 1 s 65 and amended 2024 c 121 art 2 s 131
• Minn. Stat. Chapter 342, Cannabis, including §342.01 definitions and §342.13 local government authority
• Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management, 2025 Cannabis Policy Changes
• Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management

The mandatory warning text is specified by the Office rather than by statute. Confirm the current specified warning on the Office's website before publishing any advertisement.