HOLLYWEED ITS A MOVEMENT

Google Opens Door to Cannabis Ads in Canada With New Pilot Program

Michael Levin

Google is dipping its toes into the marijuana marketplace with a new advertising pilot in Canada, marking the first time the tech giant has allowed federally licensed cannabis businesses to promote their products on its platform.

Announced last week, the “limited pilot program” begins August 25, 2025, and will run for up to 20 weeks. For now, the trial is restricted to Google Search only, where licensed operators can pay to have their ads appear in search results based on certain keywords.

“During the pilot, cannabis product ads may be available on Search,” the company said in its notice, first reported by StratCann. The stated goal is to “explore user interest and inform potential future policy updates.”

The move comes more than seven years after Canada legalized adult-use cannabis and established a commercial market. It also follows Google’s gradual softening toward cannabis advertising nearly three years ago, the company eased restrictions on hemp and CBD ads in parts of the U.S. after the 2018 Farm Bill federally legalized hemp.

Google hasn’t always been so flexible. In 2019, it banned marijuana apps from its Play Store, sparking criticism from the cannabis industry. Co-founder Sergey Brin once even joked about passing out joints to employees during a 2016 post-election meeting, underscoring the cultural gap between the company’s internal attitudes and its public policies.

Other tech platforms have wrestled with their cannabis policies too. Twitter (now X) scrapped a federal partnership in 2022 that had pushed drug treatment suggestions to users searching for marijuana-related terms something never applied to alcohol searches. And a Facebook executive revealed in 2019 that the platform was using visual AI to spot and remove cannabis ads deemed to violate policy.

For Canadian businesses that have long been shut out of mainstream advertising channels, Google’s pilot could be a breakthrough if it leads to a wider rollout. For now, all eyes are on whether the 20-week test convinces Google that cannabis ads can safely and responsibly join the digital mainstream.