Billboards advertising marijuana dispensaries have become nearly ubiquitous along Michigan’s highways and some local streets, and at least one elected leader wants to curtail the ads within the state’s largest city.
Detroit City Councilwoman Angela Whitfield Calloway has directed the city’s Law Department to draft an ordinance to ban, or possibly restrict, further cannabis advertising on billboards.
“It’s taking over our city,” Whitfield Calloway said.
The highly competitive and lucrative cannabis industry in Michigan, which generates $3 billion a year, is limited in how it can advertise, leading to a saturated number of billboard ads that the state regulates but doesn’t track. There is no database on how many cannabis billboards exist in Michigan.
The highly competitive and lucrative cannabis industry in Michigan, which generates $3 billion a year, is limited in how it can advertise, leading to a saturated number of billboard ads that the state regulates but doesn’t track. There is no database on how many cannabis billboards exist in Michigan.
A billboard advertising for the marijuana dispensary Ultra Cannabis can be seen on Eight Mile Road, in Detroit, June 6, 2024. One Detroit City Council member wants to ban such billboards or restrict them.DAVID GURALNICK, THE DETROIT NEWS
Some of Michigan’s largest cannabis business owners said their “vice” is being unfairly targeted and further regulations in Detroit would violate free speech rights. A signage expert said restrictions would also limit Detroit dispensaries from fairly competing with suburban marketing after years of working to establish a social equity licensing program. Signage revenue mainly supports small building owners in the city.
“Billboards give people the ability to market themselves fast,” said Aric Klar, the CEO of Quality Roots, which has eight dispensaries in Michigan and does some billboard advertising. “Sometimes those billboards create disapproval by neighbors, but this has grown into a different beast.
“It’s easy to put restrictions on billboards. I can’t advertise where dispensaries aren’t allowed and I believe Detroit could ban signage anywhere outside the facility’s property. It’s a wild game, and the billboard companies absolutely love the vice businesses like liquor, sports betting and cannabis. Cannabis is only the most you see because there are the most competitors in the industry.”
Still, opponents such as Kaydn Mahouli are tired of the volume of cannabis billboards. The 9-year-old addressed the Detroit City Council last month, telling members how every time he travels to Detroit to visit his grandmother, he’s disappointed to see weed advertisements. He also sees them while helping his mom work in a substance abuse clinic in Pontiac.
“I worry kids are going to see that (cannabis billboards) someday, and they’ll be interested because they see it’s free, and then they’ll get hooked on it,” Mahouli told the City Council.
Whitfield Calloway said she’s not trying to limit free speech, but the number of cannabis billboards is “unacceptable.” She cited a federal judge’s ruling in January that upheld Mississippi’s restrictions on cannabis advertising, arguing that since pot possession and sales are still illegal under federal law, they don’t get the constitutional protections that some forms of commercial speech do.
“You can’t drive down a street or a freeway without seeing this one cannabis company,” said Whitfield Calloway, without identifying the company. “What can we do to restrict? I’m not trying to interfere with anyone’s rights to publicize or freedom of speech, but not long ago, we had a councilperson who wanted to limit alcohol and cigarette advertisements.”
David Whitaker, the city of Detroit’s law and policy director, wouldn’t comment on the status of the process but said it’s a “very complex issue trying to curtail commercial speech.” Whitfield Calloway was unavailable for further comment, awaiting the law department’s review.
This article was published in the Detroit News