U.S. Supreme Court Declines to Hear Challenge to Medical Cannabis Advertising Ban

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up the challenge to
Mississippi’s near-total ban on medical cannabis advertising in the state.
The challenge, by Clarence Cocroft, owner of Tru Source Medical Cannabis,
argued that the restrictions violate his free speech rights.

In a statement, Cocroft said he wanted to advertise on billboards that he
owns and that the advertising is essential to his business because his
dispensary is tucked away in an industrial park “with no foot traffic and
hardly any vehicle traffic.”

“I was hoping the Supreme Court would hear our case so my business could be
treated just like any other legal business in the state of Mississippi.” —
Cocroft, in a statement

The ruling upholds the decision from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals that
ruled Cocroft does not have a First Amendment right to advertise his
dispensary because cannabis is outlawed under federal law.

In a statement, Ari Bargil, a senior attorney for the Institute for Justice
(IJ), which represented Cocroft, said they are “disappointed that the court
declined to hear this case and make it clear that if a product is legal to
sell, then it is legal to advertise.”

“The First Amendment protects the right of people to speak truthfully about
their legal businesses,” Bargil said in a statement. “Mississippi has
created an entire legal marketplace permitting the sale of medical
marijuana, but it is censoring state-licensed dispensaries who want to talk
about it.”

IJ President and Chief Counsel Scott Bullock added that despite the Supreme
Court declining to hear the case, the organization remains “committed to
fighting battles to protect commercial and other forms of speech in courts
throughout the country, so that every person who runs a legal business is
able to talk truthfully about it.”