The Town of Ocean City will allow the Maryland Cannabis Administration to advertise on the back of its bus fleet this summer.
On Tuesday, the Ocean City Transportation Committee approved a request from the Maryland Cannabis Administration to allow public health and safety messaging on the back of city buses this summer.
The ads, presented to committee members this week, encourage consumers to keep the Ocean City beach and Boardwalk smoke-free, and discourage impaired driving.
“Honestly, it discourages use in public,” Councilman Jake Mitrecic, a committee member, said of the ads.
While city policy prohibits cannabis-related advertising, Transportation Manager Rob Shearman said it does allow exceptions for messaging that promotes public health and safety. He said the Maryland Cannabis Administration made the request through Gateway Outdoor Advertising, the company that oversees advertising on the city’s bus fleet.
“It’s a paid advertisement through grant-funded revenues …,” Shearman said. “We had some anticipation as to what that message was going to look like in terms of promoting safe and healthy use versus promoting use. But I think this walks that line very fairly, and I think the message is pretty good in terms of what the town wants.”