Missouri Cannabis Advertising Laws

Missouri's state advertising rule is four paragraphs, and two of them defer to municipal ordinances. The state content list prohibits the shape or any part of the shape of an animal or fruit, and artistic, caricature or cartoon renderings of the shape or any part of the shape of a human. It permits a curative or therapeutic claim only where the statement has been evaluated and approved by the Food and Drug Administration, and requires exterior signage and advertising to reflect the name on record with the department.

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Legal for licensees. Section (5) contains no pre-approval requirement for advertising, no audience threshold, no warning statement and no state buffer distance. The constraints are the content list at (5)(B), the name accuracy requirement at (5)(D), and the municipal ordinances incorporated by (5)(A) and (5)(C).

Missouri legalised adult-use cannabis through Amendment 3 in November 2022, adding Article XIV to the state constitution alongside the medical programme approved in 2018. The regulator is the Division of Cannabis Regulation within the Department of Health and Senior Services.

Advertising sits in the Division's rules at 19 CSR 100-1, in the signage and advertising subsection at section (5). The rule was filed January 20, 2023 and became effective July 30, 2023, following an emergency rule effective February 3, 2023.

Medical and adult-use cannabis share one advertising rule set. Section (5) is written around the marijuana product and the licensee without distinguishing between comprehensive and medical facilities.

The rule defers to municipal regulation twice. Subsection (5)(A) requires compliance with all applicable municipal ordinances, state law, and rules regulating signs and advertising. Subsection (5)(C) requires outdoor signage, and interior signage visible from a public right of way, to comply with any local ordinances for signs or advertising.

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

The state rule in full

Under 19 CSR 100-1, signage and advertising must comply with the following:

• (A) A marijuana product may only be advertised or marketed in compliance with all applicable municipal ordinances, state law, and rules that regulate signs and advertising.
• (B) No advertisement of marijuana may contain: any representation that is false or misleading in any way; any statement representing that the use of marijuana has curative or therapeutic effects, or tending to create an impression that it has curative or therapeutic effects, unless such statement has been evaluated and approved by the Food and Drug Administration; any content that is attractive to children, including but not limited to the shape or any part of the shape of an animal or fruit, including realistic, artistic, caricature, or cartoon renderings, and artistic, caricature, or cartoon renderings of the shape or any part of the shape of a human; or any statement concerning a brand of marijuana that is inconsistent with any statement on the labeling.
• (C) Outdoor signage and, if visible from a public right of way, interior signage, must comply with any local ordinances for signs or advertising.
• (D) No licensee shall use exterior signage or advertising that does not accurately reflect a licensee's legal name, business name or d/b/a, or trade name on record with the department.

Business name and licence number

No licence number required. Under (5)(D), exterior signage and advertising must accurately reflect the licensee's legal name, business name or d/b/a, or trade name on record with the department.

The required warning statements

None in advertising. Missouri's mandatory warning, "Cognitive and physical impairment may result from the use of marijuana. Keep out of reach of children," is a labelling requirement, as is the universal symbol diamond containing THC with an M beneath.

One warning is a premises requirement. Dispensary facilities must post at each point of egress, and on, beside, or immediately above all drive-through drawers, a department-approved sign warning that it is against the law to operate a dangerous device or motor vehicle under the influence.

How the warnings have to appear

Not applicable to advertising, as none are required.

When the warnings are not required

Not applicable. Section (5) contains no advertising disclosure requirement to disapply. Subsection (5)(B) is drafted as "no advertisement of marijuana," so it attaches to advertising the product.

Hotline number

No. Section (5) requires no helpline, hotline or poison control number.

Prohibited content

The content list at (5)(B) has four limbs:

• Any representation that is false or misleading in any way
• Any statement representing that the use of marijuana has curative or therapeutic effects, or tending to create an impression that it has curative or therapeutic effects, unless such statement has been evaluated and approved by the Food and Drug Administration
• Any content that is attractive to children, including but not limited to the shape or any part of the shape of an animal or fruit, including realistic, artistic, caricature, or cartoon renderings, and artistic, caricature, or cartoon renderings of the shape or any part of the shape of a human
• Any statement concerning a brand of marijuana that is inconsistent with any statement on the labeling

The attractive-to-children limb names shapes rather than characters. It reaches the shape or any part of the shape of an animal or fruit in realistic as well as stylised renderings, and artistic, caricature or cartoon renderings of the shape or any part of the shape of a human. The therapeutic limb reaches statements tending to create an impression as well as express claims, and its exception is an FDA evaluation and approval. No cannabis therapeutic claim currently holds that clearance.

Discounts, coupons, and price promotion

Section (5) contains no price advertising or discount prohibition. Promotions are subject to the content list at (5)(B), including the requirement that nothing be false or misleading in any way and nothing be inconsistent with any statement on the product labelling, and to municipal ordinances under (5)(A).

Pre-approval

Not required for advertising. Product designs, packaging designs and label designs must be submitted to the department for review before use, and the department issues a product packaging approval number. That is a packaging requirement rather than an advertising one.

What the Law Requires

Section (5) contains no age threshold for advertising. The age-related control is the attractive-to-children limb at (5)(B), expressed through named shapes rather than a numeric standard.

Twenty-one is the purchase age for adult-use consumers. Missouri's medical programme includes qualifying patients under 18 who purchase through a primary caregiver.

Audience Percentage Thresholds

Section (5) sets no audience composition percentage. This is an absence in the rule 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. Missouri states no equivalent figure for any medium.

What the rule uses instead

The content list at (5)(B), which applies regardless of where the advertising runs, and municipal ordinances incorporated by (5)(A) and (5)(C).

Event sponsorship

Section (5) sets no audience threshold specific to event sponsorship.

Where the burden sits

On the licensee. Section (5) imposes no audience composition evidence or recordkeeping duty.

Age Gating and Consent

Websites

Section (5) prescribes no website age gate and no age verification requirement.

Direct communication

Section (5) contains no age affirmation requirement for direct or individualized communication.

Location-based devices

Section (5) contains no location-based device provision.

Established customers

Section (5) contains no exception removing communications to existing customers or opted-in recipients from the content list.

People Depicted in Ads

Under (5)(B), no artistic, caricature, or cartoon renderings of the shape or any part of the shape of a human, as content attractive to children.

Section (5) does not prohibit photography of people, sets no minimum age for persons appearing in advertising, and contains no prohibition on depicting consumption. The limb names stylised renderings rather than the identity or age of the person depicted.

Restricted Locations and Buffer Distances

Section (5) states no advertising buffer. The rule contains no distance requirement around schools, childcare facilities, playgrounds, parks, libraries or places of worship, and no transit or public property prohibition. This is an absence in the rule rather than an omission from this page.

Municipal ordinances

Subsections (5)(A) and (5)(C) both incorporate local sign and advertising ordinances, and (5)(C) extends that to interior signage visible from a public right of way. The applicable requirement varies by jurisdiction and cannot be determined from the state rule.

Licensing Buffers That Are Not Advertising Buffers

Facility siting rules under Article XIV and the Division's rules include distance requirements from schools, childcare facilities and churches. Those govern where a facility may be located rather than where an advertisement may be placed.

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

Section (5) contains no billboard prohibition, no buffer and no daypart restriction. Three provisions apply: the creative must satisfy the content list at (5)(B), the signage must reflect the licensee's registered name under (5)(D), and the placement must satisfy the municipal sign ordinance for its location under (5)(A) and (5)(C).

Compliant Use of Geotargeting

• Section (5) states no advertising buffer, so there is no facility exclusion layer required by state law.
• Run a municipal ordinance check for every jurisdiction in the plan, including for storefront and window signage visible from a public right of way, which (5)(C) brings inside the local regime.
• Do not apply facility siting distances to media placement. Those govern where a facility may be located.
• Plan for delivery from Kansas City into Kansas, where marijuana may not lawfully be sold, and from St Louis into Illinois, which applies its own advertising rules.
• Use the name on record with the department in creative, as (5)(D) requires.

One advertising rule set. Missouri runs both programmes under the Division of Cannabis Regulation, with Article XIV of the state constitution as the authority for both. Section (5) is written around the marijuana product and the licensee without distinguishing between comprehensive and medical facilities.

The programmes differ in labelling rather than advertising: packaging must state servings and doses per package for comprehensive licensees, or doses per package for medical licensees. Medical patients include those under 18, purchasing through a primary caregiver.

The Division's rules refer to both marijuana facility licensees and medical facility licensees in the reporting obligations.

Who regulates hemp here

The Missouri Department of Agriculture, under the state industrial hemp programme, separately from the Division of Cannabis Regulation.

Non-intoxicating hemp and CBD

Permitted through general retail. A hemp product within the federal definition and sold outside the licensed marijuana channel is not a marijuana product advertised by a licensee, so 19 CSR 100-1 does not reach it. General Missouri consumer protection law and federal restrictions on health claims apply instead.

Intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoids

An executive order in 2024 directed action on unregulated psychoactive hemp products, and rulemaking and litigation followed. Legislative proposals to bring intoxicating hemp products under the Division's remit have recurred across sessions without a settled outcome, and products have remained available in general retail through much of that period. The federal definition of hemp narrows in November 2026. Confirm the current status before planning any intoxicating hemp campaign.

What it means for advertising

A licensee advertising a marijuana product is subject to the content list at (5)(B), the name accuracy requirement at (5)(D), and municipal ordinances. A hemp seller outside the licensed channel is not. Classify each product before building a media plan, and re-check the intoxicating hemp position.

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

• 19 CSR 100-1, Division of Cannabis Regulation rules, including the signage and advertising subsection at section (5), packaging and labelling requirements, and licensee notification duties
• Article XIV, Missouri Constitution, sections 1 and 2
• Missouri Division of Cannabis Regulation
• Missouri Department of Agriculture, Industrial Hemp Program