The United States Postal Service sent shockwaves through the publishing world with an announcement warning publications that mailing advertisements for marijuana businesses, even if legal under state law, can result in felony charges. As cannabis law reform has made great strides across the nation, this is just the latest outdated policy that demonstrates the hurdles still placed in front of the marijuana industry. The Oregonian reported:

The Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association forwarded the recent federal advisory to its 100 or so members this week. The group’s executive director said the association “strongly discourages” Oregon newspapers that rely on the U.S. mail for delivery from accepting “any type of marijuana advertising.”

“It is against the law,” Laurie Hieb wrote in an email to Oregon newspaper executives this week. “Unfortunately, ONPA cannot do anything about this.”

It’s not clear what prompted the warning, which was hand-delivered Monday by a Washington postal official to the Chinook Observer, a Long Beach, Wash., newspaper. The newspaper and the Daily Astorian distribute a weekly tab called Coast Weekend, which runs advertisements from a Long Beach dispensary and Oregon Coast dispensaries.

This heavy-handed and unnecessary move by the United States Postal Service has prompted an Oregon Democratic congressional delegation to seek answers. More from The Oregonian:

The Oregon officials asked Brennan a range of questions about the directive regarding marijuana advertising, including whether the warning is a “USPS headquarters issued document that has legal effect in all 50 states.”

“If not, is it customary for individual districts to create their own policies that may contradict how other districts are operating?” the officials asked. “What discretion does a regional postmaster have in enforcing or implementing these policies, specifically in states where marijuana is legal?”

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Small businesses and newspapers, they wrote, “rely on advertising to be successful, and our interest is to ensure that these businesses have a clear understanding of the postal service policies regarding mailed advertisements for marijuana products so as not to violate the law.”

With over half of the United States population living under medical marijuana laws and Congress recently defunding the Drug Enforcement Administration from prosecuting people for medical marijuana acts legal under state law, this directive from the USPS doesn’t seem to adhere to current federal policy. These publications themselves aren’t selling cannabis and are only accepting advertisements for actions legal under state law.

The fact that an Oregon delegation consisting of Representatives Earl Blumenauer and Suzanne Bonamici, along with Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden isn’t a coincidence and it demonstrates the importance of legalizing marijuana at the state level. It is great to see the Oregon congressional delegation seek answers about this misguided directive. Hopefully some congressional scrutiny will help convince the USPS to change course.