North Dakota Cannabis Advertising Laws

North Dakota writes a list of permissions rather than a list of prohibitions. A dispensary may display its business name and logo, and maintain a website containing six specified items. The name or logo may not include images of marijuana or paraphernalia, colloquial references to marijuana, names of marijuana plant strains, or medical symbols resembling those of established medical associations.

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North Dakota authorises name and logo display and a defined website, and authorises nothing else. There is no enumerated route to broadcast, print, outdoor or paid digital advertising, and consequently no audience threshold, no warning statement and no buffer distance.

North Dakota legalised medical marijuana through Measure 5 in 2016, with the programme operating from 2019. Adult-use measures were rejected by voters in 2018, 2022 and 2024. The regulator is the Medical Marijuana Division within North Dakota Health and Human Services.

Advertising sits at N.D. Admin. Code 33-44-01-23, Advertising and marketing, within the medical marijuana rules first effective April 1, 2018 and amended since, under the authority of NDCC Chapter 19-24.1.

The structure is permissive rather than prohibitive. Section 33-44-01-23 is drafted as "a dispensary may" and "a manufacturing facility may," followed by enumerated permissions. There is no general prohibition and no list of prohibited content. An activity outside the enumerated permissions is not authorised.

There is one advertising rule set, differentiated by licence type. North Dakota has no adult-use programme.

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

The dispensary permission

Under 33-44-01-23(1), a dispensary may:

• Display its business name and logo on labels, signs, websites, and informational material provided to registered qualifying patients and registered designated caregivers; and
• Maintain a website that may contain the facility name, contact information, hours of operation, the usable marijuana offered, product pricing, and other information as approved by the department.

The first limb carries an audience qualifier: informational material is material provided to registered qualifying patients and registered designated caregivers.

The logo restrictions

The name or logo may not include:

• Images of marijuana or marijuana paraphernalia
• Colloquial references to marijuana
• Names of marijuana plant strains
• Medical symbols that bear a reasonable resemblance to established medical associations, including the American Medical Association or American Academy of Pediatrics

The restrictions attach to the name or logo, so they reach brand identity rather than campaign creative. A business or product brand built on a strain name falls within limb 3.

The manufacturing facility permission

Under 33-44-01-23(2), a manufacturing facility may display its business name and logo on labels, websites, and informational material, subject to the same four logo restrictions, and may maintain a website containing the facility name, phone number, and other information as approved by the department.

Two differences from the dispensary permission: it omits signs from the display list, and its website permission omits product listings, pricing and hours.

The department approval route

Both permissions end with "other information as approved by the department." Anything beyond the enumerated items requires departmental approval.

Business name and licence number

The business name may be displayed. No licence number is required.

The required warning statements

None. Section 33-44-01-23 mandates no warning language in the permitted material.

How the warnings have to appear

Not applicable, as none are required.

When the warnings are not required

Not applicable. There is no disclosure requirement to disapply.

Hotline number

Not required.

Prohibited content

There is no content list beyond the four logo restrictions. In a permissive-list structure, an activity outside the enumerated permissions is not authorised rather than being governed by a content rule.

Discounts, coupons, and price promotion

A dispensary website may contain product pricing, which is expressly enumerated. Discounts, offers and coupons are not enumerated. The permission is to state a price.

Pre-approval

Not required for the enumerated items. Required for anything beyond them, through the department approval route.

What the Law Requires

Section 33-44-01-23 sets no audience standard, because there is no general-audience advertising permission. The audience is defined by category: informational material is material provided to registered qualifying patients and registered designated caregivers.

North Dakota permits registered qualifying patients under 18 through a designated caregiver.

Audience Percentage Thresholds

Section 33-44-01-23 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

The enumerated permissions. The operative question is whether an activity is one of the listed items.

Event sponsorship

Not enumerated, and therefore not authorised. Section 33-44-01-23 sets no audience threshold for it.

Where the burden sits

On the dispensary or manufacturing facility, to whom the permissions attach.

Age Gating and Consent

Websites

Section 33-44-01-23 prescribes no website age gate and no age verification requirement.

Direct communication

Section 33-44-01-23 contains no age affirmation requirement. The informational material permission is limited to material provided to registered qualifying patients and registered designated caregivers.

Location-based devices

Section 33-44-01-23 contains no location-based device provision.

Established customers

The registered-audience limitation on informational material is the provision addressing this.

People Depicted in Ads

Section 33-44-01-23 contains no casting restriction, no minimum age for persons appearing in material, no cartoon or mascot prohibition and no prohibition on depicting consumption.

The restrictions attach to the name and logo: no images of marijuana or paraphernalia, no colloquial references to marijuana, no names of marijuana plant strains, and no medical symbols bearing a reasonable resemblance to established medical associations such as the American Medical Association or American Academy of Pediatrics.

Restricted Locations and Buffer Distances

Section 33-44-01-23 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. No off-premises advertising is enumerated. This is an absence in the rule rather than an omission from this page.

What applies instead

General North Dakota outdoor advertising law and local sign ordinances govern premises signage.

Licensing Buffers That Are Not Advertising Buffers

Facility siting distances under NDCC Chapter 19-24.1 govern where a dispensary may be located. They are not advertising provisions.

Can You Run a Digital Out of Home Screen in North Dakota?

Off premises, no, as it is not enumerated. On premises, a sign displaying the business name and logo is enumerated for dispensaries at 33-44-01-23(1), so a screen carrying only that content sits within the permission, subject to local sign ordinances. Content beyond the name and logo is not enumerated.

Compliant Use of Geotargeting

• Section 33-44-01-23 states no advertising buffer, and enumerates no paid media to geofence.
• Check the brand name and logo against all four restrictions, including the strain name prohibition, before any North Dakota launch.
• Build the dispensary website to the six enumerated items, and use the department approval route for anything beyond them.
• Note that manufacturing facilities have a narrower permission than dispensaries: no signs, no product listing, no pricing.
• Plan for delivery from Minnesota and Montana, both of which run adult-use markets with their own advertising rules.

One advertising rule set, differentiated by licence type. North Dakota is medical only. Measure 5 passed in November 2016, the legislature substantially amended the programme in 2017, and dispensary sales began in 2019. Adult-use legalisation has been rejected by voters three times: in 2018, 2022 and 2024.

The programme operates through dispensaries and manufacturing facilities, with compassion centers as the umbrella term in parts of the rules, serving registered qualifying patients and registered designated caregivers. Regulation sits with the Medical Marijuana Division of North Dakota Health and Human Services under NDCC Chapter 19-24.1 and N.D. Admin. Code Chapter 33-44-01.

Dispensaries have a broader permission than manufacturing facilities, covering signs, product listings, pricing and hours that manufacturers do not have.

Compassion centers must report to the department within 24 hours of security breaches, tampering with surveillance equipment, power failures lasting longer than two hours, embezzlement or fraud, contact with law enforcement, transport incidents, attempts to obtain marijuana outside the prescribed manner, and violations of the chapter or rules.

Who regulates hemp here

The North Dakota Department of Agriculture administers the industrial hemp programme, separately from Health and Human Services.

Non-intoxicating hemp and CBD

Permitted through general retail. A hemp product within the federal definition and sold outside the medical channel is not a dispensary or manufacturing facility, so Section 33-44-01-23 does not reach it. General North Dakota consumer protection law and federal restrictions on health claims apply instead.

Intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoids

North Dakota has restricted intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoid products. The federal definition of hemp narrows in November 2026. Confirm the current position before planning any hemp campaign.

What it means for advertising

A licensed dispensary is limited to a name, a logo and a six-item website. A hemp seller outside the channel faces no cannabis-specific advertising restriction. Classify each product before building a media plan.

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

• N.D. Admin. Code Chapter 33-44-01, including Section 33-44-01-23 advertising and marketing and Section 33-44-01-22 compassion center and laboratory incidents, effective April 1, 2018 and amended October 1, 2019 and July 1, 2022
• NDCC Chapter 19-24.1, the North Dakota Medical Marijuana Act, including Sections 19-24.1-25 and 19-24.1-30
• North Dakota Health and Human Services, Medical Marijuana Division
• North Dakota Department of Agriculture, Industrial Hemp Program