Did You Receive Unwanted Text Messages from a Medical Marijuana Dispensary?

According to consumer reports and at least one class action lawsuit, medical marijuana dispensaries may be violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act by sending advertising text messages to consumers in an attempt to solicit their business.

According to one lawsuit filed by a Tennessee man against Florida medical marijuana dispensary Trulieve Inc., the company may have sent unsolicited text messages to consumers advertising deals and specials on marijuana products.

When companies send advertising text messages to consumers, they must follow federal guidelines regarding solicitation. Companies that fail to comply with these laws may be subject to penalties and fines. Victims of these violations may be able to sue for between $500 to $1,500 for each violation under the TCPA. Filing a class action lawsuit may also be a way to stop the retailer from continuing to send you harassing and intrusive messages.

Did You Receive Unwanted Text Messages from a Medical Marijuana Dispensary?

If you have received unwanted text messages from a medical marijuana dispensary, legal options may be available for you. Consumers who receive unwanted advertising text messages from retailers may find these messages intrusive, annoying, distracting, and distressing. In some cases, consumers have claimed that they do not know how the retailer who contacted them obtained their number.

In addition to the invasion of privacy caused by retailers who contact consumers without their consent, these unwanted messages may take up memory on consumers’ cell phones, drain their battery life, and cost them money on their phone plan.

Many advertising messages sent by retailers to consumers are sent using an automatic dialing system. These systems allow retailers to send pre-written text messages to hundreds or thousands of consumers at once.

Auto-dialing systems may also be used to make robocalls, or prerecorded voice messages, to many consumers at once. However, using an automatic dialing system to contact consumers may be illegal under the TCPA, unless companies have obtained prior consent.

What is the Telephone Consumer Protection Act?

The TCPA was signed into law in 1991 and updated in 2015 to clarify the regulations regarding phone and text solicitation. Under the TCPA, companies are not allowed to contact consumers using an automatic dialing system without their prior express consent. Companies are also prohibited from contacting numbers that are registered with the National Do-Not-Call list and must keep their own lists of consumers who have requested not to be contacted.

Solicitors must give consumers the option to opt-out of receiving texts and calls at any point. Even when consumers have given their consent to be contacted, companies are only permitted to call or text at certain times.

What Texts Might be Exempted from TCPA Regulations?

Federal agencies regulating the sending of text messages know that with the volume of texts sent per day that the rules can’t be too broad. As a result of that, some text messages, while disruptive, are not in violation of the law.

For example, if you purchase something from a company and they are sending you a package, you might have opted in to receive a text message when the package is delivered. In this case, the company has not violated any laws around sending text messages.

Many text messages from healthcare companies, package delivery companies, and educational organizations fall under the exempt category, although it’s still important what the content of that text message was. Informational text messages are usually not seen as disruptive in the same manner that unwanted and unsolicited marketing messages are.

If you signed up with a company and consented to receive marketing messages, such as those that might come from a marijuana dispensary, then you can reasonably expect the company to leverage that marketing tool.

Often, consumers give their consent quickly by signing up for a text message alert system for coupons and deals. As part of this process, the company probably asks, via text message, whether or not the consumer gives their consent.

However, if this consent is revoked in the future and the text messages keep coming, the company could be in violation of the consumer’s privacy expectation. It can be difficult for a consumer to determine exactly when a violation happened without the help of an attorney.

If you have received an unwanted text message or robocall from a medical marijuana dispensary, you may be able to file a class action lawsuit against the business. Consumers who pursue litigation may be able to collect compensation if they can prove that the dispensary violated the TCPA.

Join a Free Marijuana Dispensary Unwanted Text Messages Lawsuit Investigation

If you received an unsolicited text message, ringless voicemail, robocall, and/or a call with a pre-recorded voice from a marijuana dispensary, you may be able to join a FREE marijuana dispensary unwanted text message class action lawsuit investigation.

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This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.