Maryland Cannabis Company Fined For Advertising At Age-Restricted Events

A Maryland cannabis company was recently hit with an $8,000 fine for advertising at a music festival and for sponsoring a 5K race, neither of which were age-restricted, reported The Baltimore Sun.

Curio Wellness, a Baltimore County company, violated state law as it operated a canopy at 2023's Hot Summer Music Festival in Cockeysville, while the 5K race at that year's Baltimore Running Festival was named for its cannabis brand sponsor.

According to the Maryland Cannabis Administration's consent order dated August 5, two divisions of the cannabis multistate operator – Curio Cultivation, LLC and Curio Manufacturing, LLC breached regulations that restrict alcohol and marijuana companies from advertising to audiences where fewer than 85% of the viewers are under 21.

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The company's management signed off on the consent order in July. However, Wendy Bronfein, the company's chief brand officer and director of public policy, called the stated Maryland cannabis regulations "highly restrictive."

Read Also: New Maryland Bill Targets Overly Strict County Zoning Regulations For Cannabis Dispensaries

Dumpster Weed

This is not the first time Curio Wellness made headlines for being fined by the state cannabis regulator.

Earlier this year, the company's Far & Dotter dispensary in Baltimore County was fined $26,000 for selling marijuana products that were retrieved from a dumpster by some of its employees. A total of 24 medical cannabis patients and 18 recreational cannabis customers bought at least $3,174 worth of the weed in question between July 28-Aug. 3, 2023.

The regulator said in its consent order that 224 grams of cannabis product had been discarded on July 25, 2023, by the dispensary and left in the dumpster for over 41 hours. A video footage from July 27 showed three employees retrieving the missing, pre-packaged product from the dumpster.

The marijuana in question was later repackaged by an employee who told the Maryland Cannabis Administration that “the original packaging was covered in a liquid substance.”

Maryland became the 25th state in the nation to legalize adult-use cannabis on July 1, 2023, after overwhelmingly approving it in the 2022 November’s election. Gov. Wes Moore (D) announced this past July that the state's legal cannabis sales surpassed $1.1 billion in the first year following legalization.

Read Next:

• Maryland’s Cannabis Sales Surge, Generating Over $14.6M In Revenue