Oregon Cannabis Advertising Laws

Oregon requires three warnings on every print, billboard, television, radio and internet advertisement, and prohibits placement unless the licensee holds reliable evidence that no more than 30 percent of the audience is reasonably expected to be under 21. It prohibits asserting that marijuana items are safe because they are regulated by the Commission or tested by a certified laboratory, and prohibits displaying consumption. Billboards are permitted and are inside the audience cap.

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

Legal for licensees. The Division 25 advertising rules contain no pre-approval requirement and no advertising buffer. The constraints are the three warnings at 8040(3), the eight-item content list at 8040(1), the 30 percent cap at 8060(2), the web page age requirement at 8060(3), and the location-based device rule at 8060(4).

Oregon legalised adult-use cannabis through Measure 91 in 2014, with retail sales from 2015. The regulator is the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission, which also administers the medical programme jointly with the Oregon Health Authority.

Advertising sits in Division 25 of OAR Chapter 845, across five rules running from 845-025-8000 to 845-025-8080. Two carry the substance: 845-025-8040, Advertising Restrictions, holds the content list and the mandatory warnings, and 845-025-8060, Advertising Media, Coupons, and Promotions, holds the audience threshold, the web page age requirement, the handbill prohibition and the location-based device rule.

The audience threshold and the web page age requirement sit in 8060 rather than 8040, so both rules must be read together.

Medical and adult-use cannabis share one advertising rule set. Division 25 covers recreational marijuana and includes rules for medical registrants operating within the tracking system, with separate labelling requirements for medical registrants registered with the Health Authority.

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 845-025-8040 or 8060.

The required warning statements

Three. Under 845-025-8040(3), a licensee must include the following statements on all print, billboard, television, radio and internet advertising, in font size legible to the viewer:

• "Do not operate a vehicle or machinery under the influence of this drug."
• "For use only by adults twenty-one years of age and older."
• "Keep out of the reach of children."

The second statement spells out "twenty-one" rather than using the numeral.

How the warnings have to appear

In font size legible to the viewer. The Division 25 rules prescribe no percentage of the advertising area, no colour and no minimum point size.

When the warnings are not required

Rule 845-025-8040(3) names print, billboard, television, radio and internet advertising, and states no exemption.

Hotline number

Not required in advertising.

Prohibited content

Under 845-025-8040(1), marijuana advertising may not:

• Contain statements that are deceptive, false, or misleading
• Contain any content that can reasonably be considered to target individuals under 21, including images of minors, cartoons, toys, or similar images and items typically marketed towards minors, or references to products commonly associated with minors or marketed by minors
• Specifically encourage the transportation of marijuana items across state lines or otherwise encourage illegal activity
• Assert that marijuana items are safe because they are regulated by the Commission or have been tested by a certified laboratory, or otherwise make claims that any government agency endorses or supports marijuana
• Make claims that recreational marijuana has curative or therapeutic effects
• Display consumption of marijuana items
• Contain material that encourages the use of marijuana because of its intoxicating effect
• Contain material that encourages excessive or rapid consumption

The safety limb prohibits asserting that products are safe because they are regulated or tested. Rule 845-025-8040 does not address a statement that a product has been tested without the safety inference. Take advice before using lab-testing language in creative.

Under 845-025-8040(2), a licensee may not make any deceptive, false, or misleading assertions or statements on any informational material, any sign, or any document provided to a consumer, which reaches in-store material and handouts.

Handbills

Under 845-025-8060(1), the Commission prohibits advertising through handbills passed out in public areas such as parking lots and publicly owned property. The provision reaches distribution in public areas rather than printed material generally.

Discounts, coupons, and price promotion

Rule 845-025-8060 is titled Advertising Media, Coupons, and Promotions. The provisions reviewed for this page impose no price advertising prohibition and no general coupon ban. Promotions are subject to the content list, the audience cap and the warning requirement, and to the prohibition on encouraging excessive or rapid consumption. Confirm the current full text of 8060 before relying on a promotional mechanic, since the rule title indicates coupon provisions sit within it.

Pre-approval

Not required for advertising. Packaging and labelling go through a pre-approval process under 845-025-7160, which is a separate obligation.

Removal of non-conforming advertising

Rule 845-025-8080 governs removal of objectionable and non-conforming advertising.

Responsibility for others

Rule 845-025-8500, Responsibility of Licensee, Responsibility for Conduct of Others, places responsibility on the licensee for conduct by others, which reaches agency and partner activity.

What the Law Requires

Twenty-one throughout. Under 8040(1), no content that can reasonably be considered to target individuals under 21, including images of minors, cartoons, toys, or similar images and items typically marketed towards minors, or references to products commonly associated with minors or marketed by minors.

The final limb refers to products marketed by minors as well as products associated with them.

Audience Percentage Thresholds

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

Under 845-025-8060(2), a licensee may not utilise television, radio, billboards, print media or internet advertising unless the licensee has reliable evidence that no more than 30 percent of the audience for the programme, publication or internet web site in or on which the advertising is to air or appear is reasonably expected to be under 21.

Three points on the drafting

The cap is expressed per-property: the programme, publication or internet web site in or on which the advertising is to air or appear. Billboards are named in the list, so out of home is inside the cap. And the standard is reliable evidence held by the licensee, so the file must exist before the placement runs.

Event sponsorship

The Division 25 advertising rules set no audience threshold specific to event sponsorship. Rule 845-025-1335 permits marijuana promotional events, tied to the statutory trade show provisions, which should be checked separately if an event is planned.

Where the burden sits

On the licensee, who must hold the reliable evidence. Under 845-025-8500, the licensee is also responsible for the conduct of others.

Age Gating and Consent

Web pages

Under 845-025-8060(3), a licensee who advertises via web page must utilise appropriate measures to ensure that individuals visiting the web page are over 21. The rule uses "ensure" and prescribes no mechanism.

Location-based devices

Under 845-025-8060(4), prohibited unless the marketing is a mobile device application installed on the device by the owner of the device who is 21 or older, and includes a permanent and easy opt-out feature. The rule states the installed-application condition and does not address SMS sent to a mobile number.

Established customers

The Division 25 advertising rules contain no exception removing communications to existing customers from the restrictions.

People Depicted in Ads

Under 8040(1), no images of minors and no content that can reasonably be considered to target individuals under 21, including cartoons and toys. No display of consumption of marijuana items, which applies regardless of who appears.

The Division 25 advertising rules set no minimum age for persons appearing in advertising and state no celebrity restriction. The limb on references to products marketed by minors bears on creator partnerships.

Restricted Locations and Buffer Distances

The Division 25 advertising rules state no advertising buffer. They contain no distance requirement around schools, childcare facilities, playgrounds, parks or libraries, and no transit or public property prohibition beyond the handbill rule. This is an absence in the rules rather than an omission from this page.

What does apply

The handbill prohibition at 8060(1), which reaches distribution in public areas such as parking lots and publicly owned property.

Licensing Buffers That Are Not Advertising Buffers

Licensing distance requirements exist for premises siting, including provisions concerning proximity to schools at the time of licensure. Those govern where a business may operate and are not advertising provisions.

General Sign Law

Oregon's Motorist Information Act and local sign ordinances govern outdoor signage generally, independent of the cannabis rules, and apply to any physical placement.

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

The Division 25 advertising rules contain no billboard prohibition and no buffer. Four checks apply: the 30 percent audience test at 8060(2), which expressly includes billboards; the content list at 8040(1); the three warnings in legible font at 8040(3); and general Oregon sign law and the local ordinance for the site.

Compliant Use of Geotargeting

• The Division 25 advertising rules state no advertising buffer, so there is no facility exclusion layer required by state law.
• Assess the 30 percent cap per property or programme rather than as a campaign aggregate, and hold the reliable evidence before the placement runs.
• Include billboards in the audience assessment, since 8060(2) names them.
• Have compliance sign off on how mobile display inventory is bought before launch, under 8060(4), which requires an installed application rather than an opt-in list.
• Do not carry premises siting distances into a media exclusion layer.
• Plan for delivery into Washington, California, Idaho and Nevada, each of which applies its own advertising rules.

One advertising rule set. Oregon runs both programmes, with the OLCC regulating the recreational market and sharing medical responsibilities with the Oregon Health Authority. Division 25 covers recreational marijuana and includes rules for medical registrants operating within the tracking system, with separate labelling requirements for medical registrants registered with the Health Authority.

The advertising rules are drafted around the licensee and marijuana advertising generally. One provision is programme-specific in its wording: 845-025-8040(1)(e) prohibits claims that recreational marijuana has curative or therapeutic effects. The Division 25 advertising rules state no corresponding provision authorising such claims for medical marijuana, and the Commission has published no guidance on the point. Take advice before making a therapeutic claim in a medical context.

Rule 845-025-1335 permits marijuana promotional events, tied to the statutory trade show provisions. Check that rule separately if an event is planned.

Who regulates hemp here

The OLCC itself holds significant hemp authority. Division 25 contains industrial hemp grower and handler certificate provisions, THC concentration limits for industrial hemp and hemp items, tracking requirements for hemp in the seed-to-sale system, and licensee industrial hemp privileges. The Oregon Department of Agriculture administers hemp cultivation registration alongside this.

Non-intoxicating hemp and CBD

Permitted, with labelling requirements for industrial hemp commodities or products intended for human consumption or use set out at 845-025-7140. Hemp sold outside the licensed marijuana channel is not marijuana advertising, so the Division 25 advertising rules do not reach it, though the labelling rules apply to hemp items in the regulated system.

Intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoids

THC concentration limits for industrial hemp and hemp items are set in rule at 845-025-2760, artificially derived cannabinoids are restricted, and intoxicating products are routed into the licensed marijuana channel. The federal definition of hemp narrows in November 2026.

What it means for advertising

Because hemp sits partly inside the OLCC's own framework, the boundary runs through the tracking system rather than between agencies. A hemp item tracked in the OLCC system and sold through a licensed retailer is advertised by a licensee, so the Division 25 advertising rules apply: the three warnings, the 30 percent cap, the web page age requirement and the content list. Classify each product against the THC limits at 845-025-2760 before building a plan.

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

• OAR 845-025-8040, Advertising Restrictions, Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission
• OAR 845-025-8060, Advertising Media, Coupons, and Promotions
• OAR 845-025-8000 Advertising Purpose and Application, 845-025-8020 Advertising Definitions, and 845-025-8080 Removal of Objectionable and Non-Conforming Advertising
• OAR 845-025-8500, Responsibility of Licensee, Responsibility for Conduct of Others
• OAR 845-025-2760, THC Concentration Limits for Industrial Hemp and Hemp Items, and 845-025-7140, labelling requirements for industrial hemp commodities
• Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission