Colorado cannabis firms top sponsors of highway advertising

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Marijuana companies are now the single largest sponsors of Colorado highway cleanups, leveraging a loophole in the state’s strict limits on marijuana advertising.

MJ companies are sponsoring two-thirds of the roads maintained by Clean Colorado program, which allows them to put their names on signs along the roads.

According to Adopt a Highway Maintenance, 51 marijuana stores, manufacturers, growers and edible companies sponsor highways throughout the state.

In aggregate, the companies sponsor about 198 miles, or 66% percent of the sponsored roadways, The Denver Post reported.

Nico Pento, government affairs director for Boulder, Colorado-based Terrapin Care Station, said allowing MJ companies to advertise on highway signs, is a “loophole that was overlooked.”

Terrapin Care operates six marijuana stores in the Denver area.

MJ businesses in Colorado are prohibited from advertising on TV, radio and in print unless they can prove the audience is mostly 21 year old or older.

Clean Colorado signs could be one of the best ways to reach motorists because they don’t look like typical advertisements, according to Harsha Gangadharbatla, an associate professor of advertising, public relations and media design at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

– Associated Press