Text your customers within Maine’s cannabis advertising rules

Maine has an adult-use and medical cannabis program

Retail licensing and advertising rules are enforced by the Office of Cannabis Policy, Department of Administrative and Financial Services. For billboards, social media and other channels, see our cannabis advertising rules beyond texting.

These Maine rules bear on texting customers

The rules also require reasonable steps so that mass marketing does not reach minors, ban health and therapeutic claims, and limit giveaways and bundled discounts, while the medical statute bars mass-market campaigns with a high likelihood of reaching people under 21.

• The adult use rule prohibits advertising through marketing directed at location-based devices, including cell phones, unless it is a mobile app installed by an owner aged 21 or older with a permanent and easy opt-out feature (18-691 CMR ch. 30, §3(1)(C)(5)).
• 28-B M.R.S. §702(2)(C) authorizes the Office of Cannabis Policy to adopt rules prohibiting opt-in advertising or marketing that lacks an easy and permanent opt-out feature.
• Licensees must take reasonable steps so that mass marketing or advertising does not target minors, such as using vendor audience data or age verification techniques (18-691 CMR ch. 30, §3(1)(C)(3)).
• All print, television, radio and internet advertising must include a statement that the product is for adults 21 and older and the establishment's license number (18-691 CMR ch. 30, §3(3)).
• Advertising must not contain content that targets minors, including images or other depictions of minors (18-691 CMR ch. 30, §3(1)(B)(5)).
• Advertising must not claim that cannabis has curative or therapeutic effects or make health or physical benefit claims (18-691 CMR ch. 30, §3(1)(B)(10) and (11)).
• A cannabis store must not discount cannabis or cannabis products when the sale is made together with the sale of other items, and must not sell significantly below what it paid (18-691 CMR ch. 30, §1(8)(C)(15) and (16)).
• A cannabis store must not give away adult use cannabis or cannabis products, except consumer samples within the limits of the rule (18-691 CMR ch. 30, §1(8)(C)(4)).
• For the medical program, signs, advertising and marketing by a registered caregiver or dispensary must not involve mass-market campaigns likely to reach, or designed to appeal to, people under 21 (22 M.R.S. §2429-B(1)(B)).

Start with consent, your store name and an opt-out line

• Text only people who opted in, and keep the record of when and how they did. Our guide to SMS opt-in and consent for dispensaries covers what to record.
• Put your store name first and an opt-out line on every text.
• Keep product details, prices and offers on an age-gated page rather than in the text, and check the wording against our list of banned words in cannabis texts.

Sticky SMS, by Sticky Cards, the loyalty and marketing platform for cannabis dispensaries, files your 10DLC registration with The Campaign Registry, with no charge for the number or the registration, and most stores are live in 1 to 2 days. How Maine’s rules apply to your program stays with you and your counsel.

Work with Sticky Cards in Maine

• Run a dispensary, CBD or vape shop in Maine? Book a demo to see Sticky SMS.
• Run a texting agency in Maine? Sticky Cards is looking for expert texting partner agencies in Maine. Email support@stickycards.co to talk about working together.