FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) -- During a family trip to Michigan for Labor Day, Indiana Sen. Spencer Deery (R, District 23) noticed multiple billboards on Hoosier soil advertising recreational marijuana available in Michigan as he got closer to the state border. Then, he received multiple paper ads from Michigan marijuana dispensaries through the mail after his trip despite living roughly two hours away. "Man, if somebody this far away from the dispensary is getting multiple ads -- plus the billboards -- this is interesting to me," Sen. Deery said. After looking into the matter further, Sen. Deery now aims to end marijuana advertisements in Indiana through a bill he recently authored. If passed, Senate Bill 166 would prevent marijuana advertisements of any kind within Indiana borders and allow the state's attorney general to handle any violations: Provides that a person may not advertise a product containing marijuana or a marijuana business by any medium within the borders of Indiana. Provides that the attorney general may seek civil penalties, an injunction, and other costs for violations. Provides that civil penalties shall be deposited in the state general fund.  Senate Bill 166 A billboard advertising Puff Cannabis Company sits alongside State Road 9 near U.S. 33 in Noble County. A billboard promoting The Nest Provisioning alongside I-69 in Steuben County near Pokagon State Park After consulting with statehouse attorneys, Sen. Deery learned there is not precedent in Indiana for banning advertisements regarding products that are illegal at the state level. "When something is just a state issue -- say gambling -- you can't prohibit somebody from putting up a billboard and saying 'hey, cross the border [and] come to our casino," Sen. Deery said. "You can't do that." However, the attorneys noted the precedent is different for things which are illegal at a federal level. "What I was advised by our attorneys is that when there [are] regulations against commercial speech, there is a four-pronged test, and the very first test is, "is it legal," and in the eyes of the federal government, [marijuana] is not," Sen. Deery said. Bills to watch as the 2025 Indiana General Assembly session kicks off Wednesday The legality of marijuana at the federal level, along with concerns for how marijuana advertisements are regulated in Indiana, prompted Sen. Deery to author Senate Bill 166. "No matter what your views are on whether pot should be legal or not, we're behind the game when it comes to regulations of the advertisement of it," Sen. Deery said. "So, my hope is that even people that are advocates of legalization can get behind some kind of regulation of the product. And for me, what seemed most appropriate for a state where it's not legal is an outright ban." Although Sen. Deery serves counties that either border Illinois or are close to the state, he said he has not seen billboards within his district, and much of the feedback he has received from Hoosiers has come from northeast Indiana. "Interestingly, once I filed this bill, I have been hearing from people from Fort Wayne over and over again even though I don't represent those areas," Sen. Deery said. "I've heard from people writing in saying, 'this is such a problem. Thank you for doing this.' For whatever reason, Fort Wayne seems to be a real hotspot for that." Antwerp councilman files motion to stop sale of historic depot for marijuana dispensary Across Noble and Steuben counties, WANE 15 spotted several billboards advertising marijuana Thursday, which is what Sen. Deery hopes to tackle. "It's one thing to just put something on a website that isn't targeted at all, and it's another thing to geolocate -- this person lives close to the border, we're going to go after them -- and that's really what we're after," Sen. Deery said. "In conversations with the attorneys on the best way to draft that, just a straight up prohibition was advised with the condition that the attorney general really is the one that would decide which to go after ... the attorney general isn't going to go after just somebody who happens to put an ad online or Twitter or something." Sen. Deery told WANE 15 he considers the legalization of marijuana and regulating advertisements of it two separate issues. He said he is currently against legalizing marijuana, but he would consider himself as a "no forever." "Until somebody can point to me and say this is the state that has cracked the code and is doing it right, I'm a no," Sen. Deery said. Sen. Deery's concerns with legalizing marijuana The bill is in its infancy, but Sen. Deery said he has spoken with some of his colleagues and that initial reactions have been "positive." The next step for the bill is to go through the Indiana Senate Commerce and Technology Committee. Hoosiers can follow the bill's entire path through the Indiana General Assembly online. In the House of Representatives, Rep. Joanna King (R, District 49) authored a similar bill targeting marijuana advertisements. House Bill 1026 would ban ads showing marijuana products and would prevent ads for marijuana dispensaries from being within 1,000 of certain establishments.