Alaska regulators significantly loosened key restrictions that could lead many cannabis businesses to greater profitability simply by letting them advertise in many common venues and offer free samples to customers through legal dispensaries.
According to the Alaska Beacon, the state’s Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom signed the new rules into law on Sept. 8, and they’ll kick in on Oct. 8, at which point cannabis brands will be allowed to post ads anywhere that isn’t specifically prohibited by local ordinances or state laws. That includes a ban on billboard advertising.
New ad venues will include buses, bus stop shelters, and college campuses, the Beacon reported. But localities could adopt their own new rules on cannabis ads.
In addition, brands have gotten the green light to give away small free product samples to customers, which is prohibited in most marijuana markets.
The revisions are part of a “broad wave of regulatory changes,” the Beacon reported, as the libertarian-leaning state has rolled back many other initial cannabis industry restrictions such as bans on drive-through windows. The latest changes emerged from a task force that wrote policy recommendations for state marijuana regulators. (Full Story)