NNA calls for change to postal rules blocking marijuana advertising in newspapers (OP-ED available)
Aug 25, 2026
Federal policy puts mailed newspapers at a disadvantage in states where marijuana businesses operate legally
NNA Industry Alert
Contact: Lynne Lance, lynne@nna.org
PENSACOLA, Florida — The National Newspaper Association is calling on federal officials and the U.S. Postal Service to modernize policies that prevent newspapers delivered through the mail from carrying advertisements for state-licensed marijuana businesses.
In states across the country, marijuana is a legal and regulated industry. Licensed dispensaries employ residents, pay taxes and operate under state-established rules. Yet newspapers serving those same communities can face federal mailing restrictions if they accept advertising from those businesses.
Because marijuana remains a Schedule I controlled substance under federal law, USPS has taken the position that advertisements promoting its sale are not legally mailable — even when the business being advertised is operating legally under state law.
NNA has urged USPS to reconsider the policy, which puts newspapers at a competitive disadvantage against other advertising platforms.
“If a state has determined that licensed businesses can legally sell marijuana, those businesses should be able to advertise in their local newspapers,” NNA Executive Director Lynne Lance said. “Newspapers should not have to choose between serving a legitimate local advertiser and protecting their ability to use the U.S. mail.”
The current policy does not eliminate marijuana advertising. It simply pushes those advertising dollars elsewhere. In states where marijuana is legal, dispensary advertising is common on billboards and digital platforms. A state-licensed dispensary can advertise along a major highway while an advertisement for the same business in a community newspaper can raise federal mailing concerns.
The restriction is increasingly difficult to justify as federal marijuana policy itself evolves. Marijuana is currently classified as a Schedule I controlled substance — the same federal category as heroin; however, the federal government has been considering moving marijuana to Schedule III, which would recognize accepted medical uses and place it in a significantly different regulatory category.
There is another inconsistency in current postal policy: USPS already permits qualifying hemp and hemp-derived products, including CBD products containing no more than 0.3% THC, to be mailed domestically when applicable federal, state and local requirements are met. In other words, qualifying cannabis-derived products themselves can travel through the U.S. mail, while a newspaper can face restrictions for carrying an advertisement for a state-licensed marijuana business.
NNA believes federal law and postal policy should recognize the decisions states have made and allow newspapers to carry advertising from properly licensed marijuana businesses in states where those businesses legally operate, subject to applicable state advertising restrictions.
“This is not about whether marijuana should be legal,” NNA Chair Martha Diaz Aszkenazy, publisher of the San Fernando (California) Valley Sun and El Sol, said. “States have already made that decision. This is about whether newspapers should be prevented from competing for advertising from businesses operating legally in their communities.”
If a dispensary is legal enough to operate on Main Street, pay taxes and advertise on a billboard, NNA believes it should be legal enough to advertise in the local newspaper.
