Montana Cannabis Advertising Laws

Montana permits product advertising in electronic media only. Television, radio, print including newspapers, magazines, flyers and mailers, and billboards are each prohibited. Any social media account that advertises marijuana must be private and carry a clearly visible notice on the main page that only persons 21 or older may follow it. Branding and marketing, both defined to exclude references to specific products, are permitted generally.

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Under (1), a licensee may promote its business and market its brand, but may not advertise marijuana or marijuana products except in electronic advertising. Rule 42.39.123 contains no pre-approval requirement, no audience threshold and no warning statement.

Montana legalised adult-use cannabis through Initiative 190 in November 2020, with sales beginning January 2022, and runs it alongside a medical programme. The regulator is the Department of Revenue's Cannabis Control Division.

Advertising sits at Mont. Admin. R. 42.39.123, transferred from Rule 37.107.134 effective July 2, 2021 and amended effective October 9, 2021, August 27, 2022, and March 23, 2024.

Medical and adult-use cannabis share one advertising rule set. Rule 42.39.123 is drafted around the licensee and the marijuana business without distinguishing between the two programmes.

The rule turns on a three-way definitional distinction. Advertising means communication to directly induce any person to purchase or consume marijuana, and expressly includes promoting special pricing, sales, or discounts. Branding means creating a unique identity for a business, and marketing means promoting the brand, location, or services. Branding and marketing both expressly exclude references to specific marijuana or marijuana products.

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

The definitions

Under (2), advertising means the publication, dissemination, solicitation, or circulation of visual, oral, or written communication to directly induce any person to purchase or consume marijuana or marijuana products, and includes the promotion of special pricing, sales, or discounts. It does not include branding, marketing, packaging and labelling, or information regarding special pricing, sales, or discounts on display within a licensed premises.

Under (4) and (5), branding means creating a unique identity for a business and marketing means promoting the brand, location, or services. Both expressly exclude references to specific marijuana or marijuana products.

Business name and licence number

Not required. Under (6), a licensee may use the phrase "marijuana" or "cannabis" in its signage or in its electronic advertising.

The required warning statements

None. Rule 42.39.123 mandates no warning language in advertising.

How the warnings have to appear

Not applicable, as none are required.

When the rules do not apply

Two express carve-outs. Under (12), the prohibition on television, radio and print does not prohibit the use of informational pamphlets for dissemination at marijuana trade conferences, or the use or distribution of business cards, though nothing in the rule allows sale or possession of marijuana outside a licensed premises, including at tradeshows. Under (13), the prohibition on asserting products are safe does not prohibit a business from asserting that its products have been tested by a licensed marijuana testing laboratory.

Hotline number

No. Rule 42.39.123 requires no helpline, hotline or poison control number.

Prohibited content and practices

Under (11), a marijuana business may not:

• Engage in advertising via marketing directed towards location-based devices, including cellular phones, unless users affirmatively opt in to receiving push notifications related to marijuana or marijuana-related products — (11)(a)
• Utilise unsolicited pop-up or push-to advertising on the internet — (11)(b)
• Advertise on television, radio, or in print such as newspapers, magazines, flyers, and mailers — (11)(c)
• Engage in advertising or utilise signage asserting its products are safe — (11)(d)
• Utilise a billboard — (11)(e)
• Use objects such as toys or inflatables, movie or cartoon characters, or any other depiction or image likely to be appealing to youth, where the objects, images, or depictions indicate an intent to cause youth to become interested in the purchase or consumption of marijuana products — (11)(f)
• Use or employ a commercial mascot outside of, and in proximity to, a licensed marijuana business — (11)(g)

A commercial mascot is defined as a live human being, animal, or mechanical device used for attracting the attention of motorists and passersby, including inflatable tube displays, persons in costume, and persons wearing, holding, or spinning a sign with a marijuana-related commercial message or image.

The youth-appeal limb at (11)(f) contains an intent element: the objects, images, or depictions must indicate an intent to cause youth to become interested in the purchase or consumption of marijuana products.

Outdoor signage imagery

Under (7), outdoor signage may not use colloquial terms for marijuana such as pot, reefer, or weed, and may not use an image or visual representation of useable marijuana, marijuana-infused products, marijuana concentrates, marijuana paraphernalia, or an image that indicates the presence of a product such as smoke or edibles. Subsection (7) applies to outdoor signage.

Discounts, coupons, and price promotion

Promoting special pricing, sales, or discounts is within the definition of advertising at (2), so it falls under the electronic-only restriction at (1). Information regarding special pricing, sales, or discounts on display within a licensed premises is expressly outside the definition at (2).

Pre-approval

Not required. Rule 42.39.123 contains no pre-submission requirement.

What the Law Requires

Twenty-one throughout, applied through verification rather than audience composition. Under (9), a webpage must verify visitors are 21 or older. Under (10), a QR code landing page must do the same, and a social account that advertises product must be private with a 21-plus notice. Under (11)(a), location-based device marketing requires affirmative opt-in.

The youth-appeal test at (11)(f) is drafted with an intent element: the objects, images, or depictions must indicate an intent to cause youth to become interested in purchase or consumption.

Audience Percentage Thresholds

Rule 42.39.123 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.

What the rule uses instead

Channel restriction and verification. Product advertising is confined to electronic media under (1), and the electronic surfaces themselves carry verification duties under (9) and (10).

Event sponsorship

Rule 42.39.123 sets no audience threshold specific to event sponsorship. Under (12), informational pamphlets for dissemination at marijuana trade conferences are outside the television, radio and print prohibition.

Where the burden sits

On the marijuana business. Subsections (9), (10) and (11) each attach their obligations to it.

Age Gating and Consent

Webpages

Under (9), a marijuana business that maintains a webpage must utilise appropriate measures to verify that individuals visiting the webpage are 21 years of age or older. Rule 42.39.123 prescribes no mechanism.

QR code landing pages

Under (10), the same obligation applies to any page reached by a QR code in an electronic advertisement.

Social media

Under (10), accounts advertising marijuana or marijuana products must be private, with a clearly visible notice on the main page stating that only persons 21 years of age or older may follow the account.

Location-based devices

Under (11)(a), no advertising via marketing directed towards location-based devices, including cellular phones, unless users affirmatively opt in to receiving push notifications related to marijuana or marijuana-related products. Rule 42.39.123 states no installed-application condition.

Established customers

Rule 42.39.123 contains no exception removing communications to existing customers from the prohibitions, beyond the opt-in route at (11)(a).

People Depicted in Ads

Rule 42.39.123 sets no minimum age for persons appearing in advertising and contains no prohibition on depicting consumption.

The constraints are the youth-appeal test at (11)(f), which reaches movie or cartoon characters and toys where intent to interest youth is indicated, and the commercial mascot prohibition at (11)(g), which expressly includes a live human being in costume or wearing, holding or spinning a sign outside the premises.

Restricted Locations and Buffer Distances

Rule 42.39.123 states no advertising buffer. The rule contains no distance requirement around schools, childcare facilities, playgrounds, parks or libraries, and no transit or public property prohibition. This is an absence in the rule rather than an omission from this page.

What the rule uses instead

Channel closure. Billboards are prohibited under (11)(e), print and mailers under (11)(c), and product advertising is confined to electronic media by (1).

Local ordinances

Under (8), outdoor signage must comply with any applicable local jurisdiction sign ordinances and regulations. This applies to premises signage.

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

Under (3), a sign directing attention to a business, commodity, service, entertainment or attraction existing elsewhere than upon the same premises where it is displayed is a billboard, and (11)(e) prohibits utilising a billboard. A screen at the licensed premises directing attention to that premises is not a billboard under (3). As outdoor signage it is subject to (7), which prohibits colloquial terms and images of useable marijuana, products, concentrates, paraphernalia, or images indicating the presence of a product, and to the local sign ordinance under (8). Special pricing may not appear, since promoting it is advertising under (2).

Compliant Use of Geotargeting

• Rule 42.39.123 states no advertising buffer, so there is no facility exclusion layer required by state law.
• Rule 42.39.123 states no audience percentage. Document the verification measures in place on webpages, QR landing pages and social accounts, which is what (9) and (10) require.
• Confine product advertising to electronic media under (1), and obtain Department confirmation on CTV before committing spend.
• For mobile, obtain affirmative opt-in to push notifications under (11)(a), and have compliance sign off on how mobile display inventory is bought before launch.
• Check the local sign ordinance for premises signage under (8).
• Where an account carries no references to specific products, it is branding or marketing under (4) and (5) rather than advertising, and the private account requirement at (10) is not engaged.

One advertising rule set. Montana runs adult-use and medical programmes under the Department of Revenue's Cannabis Control Division, following the transfer of regulation from the Department of Public Health and Human Services. Rule 42.39.123 is drafted around the licensee and the marijuana business without distinguishing between the two programmes.

The rule was transferred from Rule 37.107.134 effective July 2, 2021, then amended effective October 9, 2021, August 27, 2022, and March 23, 2024. A summary citing the 37.107 numbering is describing superseded text.

Montana's medical programme includes registered cardholders under 21. Rule 42.39.123 states no alternative screening route for patients under 21 alongside the verification requirements at (9) and (10).

Who regulates hemp here

The Montana Department of Agriculture, under the state hemp programme established following the federal 2018 Farm Bill. That is a different agency from the Department of Revenue's Cannabis Control Division.

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 marijuana advertised by a licensee, so Rule 42.39.123 does not reach it. General Montana consumer protection law and federal restrictions on health claims apply instead.

Intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoids

Montana has legislated to restrict intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoid products outside the licensed channel, with measures addressing delta-8 and similar cannabinoids and directing intoxicating products into the regulated market. The position has continued to develop across sessions. 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 product advertised by a marijuana licensee is subject to everything on this page: the electronic-only restriction at (1), the closed channels at (11), the private social account requirement at (10), and the webpage verification duty at (9). A non-intoxicating hemp product sold in general retail carries none of it. Classify each product before building a media plan.

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

• Mont. Admin. R. 42.39.123, Advertising, transferred from 37.107.134 effective July 2, 2021 and amended effective October 9, 2021, August 27, 2022, and March 23, 2024
• Montana Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act, Title 16, Chapter 12, Montana Code Annotated
• Montana Department of Revenue, Cannabis Control Division
• Montana Department of Agriculture, Hemp Program