United States Postal Service Issues Warning to Newspapers with Cannabis Ads
[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]R[/dropcap]ecently the United States Postal Service issued a warning towards cannabis ad-friendly newspapers. The warning has sent cannabis activists and publishers reeling, and they are questioning the legality of this type of strong-arming.
According to Portland Postmaster Shawneen Bertha, it is a felony for “any person to place in any newspaper, magazine, handbill, or other publications, any written advertisement knowing that it has the purpose of seeking or offering illegally to receive, buy, or distribute a Schedule I controlled substance, which includes marijuana.”
Publishers from all around the nations are questioning the ban. Laurie Hieb is executive director of the Oregon Newspapers Publishers Association. “It is against the law,” Laurie Hieb wrote. “Unfortunately, ONPA cannot do anything about this.” Jack Orchard is an attorney for ONPA. Orchard says the warning is “an interesting political document,” given that it originated from a local Portland-base postal office. “Why now?” asked Orchard. “You can say what you want to say about recreational marijuana and the liberalization of marijuana laws in Oregon, but medical marijuana is in widespread use throughout the country and certainly has been part of the Oregon landscape for a long time. The timing of this lends a kind of fascinating political edge to this.”
America’s very first amendment, the Freedom of the Press, explicitly states, “The right to publish newspapers, magazines, and other printed matter without governmental restriction and subject only to the laws of libel, obscenity, sedition, etc.”
Marcia Van Dyke is executive director of the Washington Newspapers Association. “Many of our newspapers have been running these ads for a while now in accordance with Washington state law,” she said.
Many are speculating the reasons for the ban, including an attempt to improve customer relations. The United States Postal service posted over $5 billion in losses for the fiscal year ending on Sept. 30, 2015.
