Overview
(5th Cir., November 22, 2024): The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that marijuana dispensaries seeking to advertise lack protections under the First Amendment because federal law prohibits marijuana dispensing. Dispensaries in the State challenged the Mississippi law prohibiting advertisement in media and in public spaces that was enacted when the State legalized medical marijuana in 2022. The court cited the U.S. Supreme Court’s Central Hudson test, which provides that commercial speech must be for lawful activity to be protected under the First Amendment. Although Mississippi law permits the sale of medical marijuana, the fact that federal law prohibits marijuana sales renders the dispensing of marijuana in Mississippi unlawful activity for First Amendment purposes. Because the First Amendment was not applicable, the advertising restrictions were upheld. Read the full opinion here.
View all cases in the Judicial Trends in Public Health – February 18, 2025.