On Wednesday, Twitter allowed cannabis companies to advertise their brands and products on the platform to US users.

The social network previously allowed the promotion of cannabidiol products, while other social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, banned it.

Marijuana remains illegal at the federal level, but an increasing number of US states are trying to allow the sale of recreational cannabis (21 states have already done so).

Companies planning to advertise cannabis on Twitter must provide a sales license and go through an approval process. The target audience of advertising is only people over 21 years old.

“This is a big win for legal cannabis marketers,” said Cresco Labs, a cannabis and medical marijuana company.

Most cannabis companies were quick to adopt the changes suggested by Twitter. Trulieve Cannabis launched a multi-state ad campaign back on Wednesday.

“The change speaks to the growing acceptance of cannabis as a mainstream healthy lifestyle category, and we hope it will act as a catalyst for other social platforms to follow suit,” said Kate Lynch of Curaleaf, the largest cannabis company operating in the US.

After soaring sales in the early stages of the pandemic, the US cannabis industry has shown signs of slowing, facing regulatory and economic challenges (including falling prices and an illegal market that lures consumers). Curaleaf, for example, recently cut its staff by 10% and terminated most deals in three US states.

Such changes in Twitter look predictable, given Musk’s attitude to marijuana, the exodus of advertisers (since the billionaire took charge of Twitter, the top 500 advertisers left the platform) and the social network’s debt, which is $12.5 billion. Previously, Twitter canceled the ban on political advertising, which was effective from of 2019.

Source: Reuters