Marijuana is currently legal for recreational use in the states of Washington and Colorado, with Colorado having just opened its first cannabis shops this month. However, weed businesses won’t be able to advertise their wares on social media for the time being. Google and Facebook don’t plan on changing their policies barring the promotion of weed use, even in places where it’s legal.
Stores can sell marijuana in Colorado and Washington but they can’t — for now — target potential customers on popular sites like Facebook, Twitter and Google. Despite the progressive reputations of these companies, they are keeping existing pot policies in place, frustrating the marijuana industry. Taylor West of the National Cannabis Industry Association claims, for instance, that the trade group has tried to pay Facebook to “boost” certain stories – including ones that simply linked to pot-related reports in publications like the New York Times — but the social network refused.