Colorado City’s Marijuana Ad Laws Under Scrutiny

A pair of Colorado marijuana stores, The Farm and Terrapin Care Station, are accused of violating the city’s ban on cannabis advertising because of booths they displayed at an event last month.

The stores in Boulder, Colorado, didn’t distribute marijuana at the festival, which was held for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

But the names of the businesses did appear on the booths.

According to the Denver Post, some city council members said they never intended the ban on advertising to apply to something like a booth at a festival, and they want the city to treat MJ businesses like other corporate sponsors of charitable events.

City code allows for “purely incidental” advertising that relates to sponsoring an event, such as a marijuana business name appearing among other business names. But large signs such as those on a booth go beyond that, Boulder city attorneys argued.

Alcohol businesses are allowed to engage in sponsorship of events and have booths as long as there is no alcohol on site without a permit.

Boulder attorney Jeff Gard, who represents both The Farm and Terrapin, said the charges are inconsistent with community values.