Filing this in the odd news section: The Portland Tribune has reported that an Oregon dispensary owner has been fined $3,000 by Wood Village, Oregon for the mannequins he sets up on the sidewalk to advertise his cannabis. These blonde mannequins (cannequins?) are animated and brandish “Got Chronic” signs at potential clients.
The town recently revised its sign code to prohibit Portable Signs, defined as “signs not permanently affixed to a building structure or the ground and designed to move from place to place except garage sale signs, special event signs, political signs, real estate signs or as otherwise provided in this Code . . .”
The owner sees the long list of exceptions as a clear sign that this ban is specifically targeted at his mannequins. After all, his dispensary is the only cannabusiness in town. He has also been fined under the new code for having a sign on the roof of his neighboring cupcake business.
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Even if the ordinance isn’t specifically targeted at the mannequins, the ordinance is likely unconstitutional. Under first amendment jurisprudence, content-based regulation of speech is subject to “strict scrutiny,” that is, to survive, content-based regulations must 1) be passed to further a compelling government interest, and 2) be narrowly tailored to achieve that interest. In practice, strict scrutiny is a difficult hurdle to overcome.
In a recent case, the US Supreme Court struck down a similar city code governing outdoor signs. The offending ordinance identified various categories of signs “based on the type of information they convey, then subjects each category to different restrictions.” Sound familiar? The Supreme Court continues: “[A] municipal government vested with state authority, ‘has no power to restrict expression because of its message, its ideas, its subject matter, or its content . . . Content-based laws–those that target speech based on its communicative content–are presumptively unconstitutional and may be justified only if the government proves that they are narrowly tailored to serve compelling state interests.”
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In one passage, the Supreme Court states “The restrictions in the Sign Code that apply to any given sign thus depend entirely on the communicative content of the sign. If a sign informs its reader of the time and place a book club will discuss John Locke’s Two Treatises of Government, that sign will be treated differently from a sign expressing the view that one should vote for one of Locke’s followers in an upcoming election . . . On its face, the Sign Code is a content-based regulation of speech.”
Let’s rewrite that passage with the facts at issue here: “The restrictions in the [Wood Village sign code] that apply to any given sign thus depend entirely on the communicative content of the sign. If a [portable] sign informs its reader [that a mannequin has “got chronic”], that sign will be treated differently from a sign [advertising a nearby garage sale] . . . On its face, the [Wood Village sign code] is a content-based regulation of speech.”
In this light, it is easy to see that the Wood Village ordinance will likely be struck down if the owner decides to take it up with the courts. We will have to see if the owner decides it is worth it.
Setting aside the specter of unconstitutionality, it is worth looking at whether state law prohibits the mannequins. The state is subject to the same restrictions on content-based regulations, so the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (“OLCC”) has issued loose cannabis advertising restrictions that seem designed to survive strict scrutiny. The OLCC’s stated goal is to prevent cannabis advertising that is attractive to minors, promotes excessive use, promotes illegal activity, or presents a significant risk to public health and safety.
More specifically, cannabusinesses cannot advertise cannabis in any way. But there’s more:
- That contains deceptive, false, or misleading statements;
- That contains any content that targets minors, such as images of minors, cartoons, toys, etc.;
- That encourages the transportation of cannabis across state lines;
- That asserts that cannabis items are safe because they are regulated by the OLCC and have been tested by a lab;
- That claims recreational cannabis has curative or therapeutic effects;
- That displays the consumption of marijuana items;
- That contains material that encourages excessive or rapid consumption; or
- That contains material that encourages the use of marijuana because of its intoxicating effect.
These blonde got-chronic-bots don’t seem to fit neatly into any of these categories, so the mannequins are likely legal under state law. Accordingly, the owner may very well decide it is worth taking this dispute to the courtroom.
Will Patterson is an attorney at Harris Bricken, a law firm with lawyers in Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Barcelona, and Beijing. This story was originally published on the Canna Law Blog.
