Weedmaps Ordered To Stop Allowing Unlicensed Businesses to Advertise
The mega cannabis corporation Weedmaps was ordered by California Bureau of Cannabis Control to stop allowing businesses that do not have a current California cannabis license to utilize their platform to deliver products. The letter, delivered to weedmaps in February, spelled out a number of violations by the company for allowing many companies, many of whom were operating on the platform before the state went officially legal on January 1st, to continue advertising.
“The California Bureau of Cannabis Control sent a cease-and-desist letter last month to Irvine-based Ghost Management Group, the owner of popular marijuana dispensary finder Weedmaps.com, ordering the company to stop advertising unlicensed operators or face unspecified “criminal and administrative penalties…
The Weedmaps letter is in addition to more than 900 cease-and-desist orders the Bureau has sent to unlicensed plant-touching companies, Traverso wrote in an email Tuesday to MJBizDaily. That’s up from about 500 two weeks ago.
The bureau’s letter also noted that Weedmaps could face “civil penalties for each violation.” That could conceivably mean a fine for each unlicensed business advertisement.”
Currently, no response has been give to the cease and desist order, or the similar cease and desist order from the Sacramento police dept.
The financial impact to Weedmaps in unknown but could be easily in the millions of dollars. There are hundreds of paid advertisers on the site in California, many of them not yet licensed in the fledgling industry in the state.
Competitor Leafly already decided to comply with California laws regarding licensing. They made an announcement about their new policy in February.
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