5 ms·

I still don't understand how or why, but I am able to pay for marijuana from a local medical dispensary in CA with a credit card. Anyone know what is up with t

I still don't understand how or why, but I am able to pay for marijuana from a local medical dispensary in CA with a credit card. Anyone know what is up with that?

whymsicalburito 9y ago
My experience with those dispensaries is that they don't last too long. The ones I've seen stay open for years are all cash. I'd be curious to know if yours is doing something special to be able to accept credit cards.
- dilyevsky 9y ago
  airfield supply has been around for a while and take cc. also eaze.
chrsstrm 9y ago
There are IIRC two processors who will run those transactions. Was just discussing this with a colleague in the payments sector yesterday and we were going to finish the conversation today to learn more about where those funds go and how they are transferred. Lots of "clubs" sell memberships where the product is complimentary, you pay for the access to the "lounge" and premises. The big problem with most weed transactions is they can't be run through any org that is federally insured, which is why banks won't touch dispensary money.
- pbhjpbhj 9y ago
  Do I have this right: your State says your medicine is legal to buy, the Federal government says it's not illegal, but whoever controls "federal insurance" prevents normal use of the banking system for companies that are in the supply chain? Who decides on the rules for those using "federal insurance" and why do they override state law on what's legal to sell? Why can banks refuse your cash? Why do they?
  - dragonwriter 9y ago
    > Do I have this right: your State says your medicine is legal to buy, the Federal government says it's not illegal No, the second half is wrong; the Feds say it is absolutely illegal, but also not a prosecution priority. Well, except the “not a prosecution priority” part just got a little less clear.
  - chris11 9y ago
    > Federal government says it's not illegal Pot is still illegal at the federal level. Though the Obama-era DOJ deprioritized enforcement. Jeff Sessions just rescinded this policy. So I'd expect to see some new cases dealing with pot end up in federal court.
    - bluetwo 9y ago
      Yep. I expect this will happen quickly. Some people are going to wake up at the end of a gun and find out they are the lowest hanging fruit.
    - dragonwriter 9y ago
      > Though the Obama-era DOJ deprioritized enforcement. And Congress has, for several years, prohibited federal funds from being used to interfere with state medical marijuana implementation.
      - int_19h 9y ago
        This is still the case as of today - this protection has been extended to January, 18 when this last came up for vote. It'll likely get extended again. So if they start targeting places, it'll be recreational pot stores and farms that sell to them, not medical dispensaries.
  - cosmie 9y ago
    As far as I understand, your state says it’s legal but the federal government says it’s illegal. However, there’s a standing directive from the Justice department that they won’t prosecute individuals complying with state laws (when those state laws legalize marijuana). So it’s still illegal at a federal level, but the department that would ostensibly enforce that simply let it be known that they would defer to state law and not prosecute when state law legalized it. But since it was never actually legalized at the federal level, it’s little more than a gentleman’s agreement (which could be pointed to as a valid defense if someone was prosecuted federally). But since the directive came from the executive branch, it can also revoke/revise that directive as it wants, and begin enforcing those federal laws regardless of state level legalization. Congress still has the power to pass actual laws that decriminalize it federally, but they’ve conveniently been spared from that politically charged topic by the Justice Department directive. Now they’ll be forced to address it. And with hundreds of millions of dollars in state tax revenue at stake, there will likely be more pressure to not white wash over it than their has been previously.
rtkwe 9y ago
Must have found a processor willing to take the risk. Or they lied about the business they're in to their processor. There's a company called eMerchantBroker who seems willing to provide licensed dispensaries with standard card processing services. https://www.cardpaymentoptions.com/credit-card-processing/marijuana-merchant-services-providers/ https://www.cardpaymentoptions.com/credit-card-processing/ma...
venachescu 9y ago
I believe some work with smaller local credit unions who only have in-state business. Not sure if these credit unions are in the clear or just minimally exposed to federal prosecution though?
- dragonwriter 9y ago
  Rohrabacher-Farr, as long as it is in effect, is pretty much a complete bar to federal prosecution for in-state actions associated with state-approved medical marijuana activities (both on its face and, because DoJ tried to narrow it in practice and got challenged, this is also fairly well tested in the courts.) Of course, that's tied to federal spending bills and needs renewed with each new spending authorization, so without timely and full-year budgets it's kind of perpetually at risk of near-term expiration.
monocasa 9y ago
In CO they look like ATMs to the bank rather than a point of sale terminal.
stephenitis 9y ago
I think Eaze uses http://eazepayment.com/ http://eazepayment.com/ A Cyprus based company that uses offshore methods. Anyone else have insight on this?
k_sh 9y ago
I know of a couple dispensaries/delivery services in LA that use payment apps (Square, PayPal, etc) and leave the line item descriptions blank. Bold, but it seems to work for them.

I still don't understand how or why, but I am able to pay for marijuana from a local medical dispensary in CA with a credit card. Anyone know what is up with that?

whymsicalburito 9y ago

My experience with those dispensaries is that they don't last too long. The ones I've seen stay open for years are all cash. I'd be curious to know if yours is doing something special to be able to accept credit cards.

dilyevsky 9y ago
airfield supply has been around for a while and take cc. also eaze.

chrsstrm 9y ago

There are IIRC two processors who will run those transactions. Was just discussing this with a colleague in the payments sector yesterday and we were going to finish the conversation today to learn more about where those funds go and how they are transferred. Lots of "clubs" sell memberships where the product is complimentary, you pay for the access to the "lounge" and premises. The big problem with most weed transactions is they can't be run through any org that is federally insured, which is why banks won't touch dispensary money.

pbhjpbhj 9y ago
Do I have this right: your State says your medicine is legal to buy, the Federal government says it's not illegal, but whoever controls "federal insurance" prevents normal use of the banking system for companies that are in the supply chain? Who decides on the rules for those using "federal insurance" and why do they override state law on what's legal to sell? Why can banks refuse your cash? Why do they?
- dragonwriter 9y ago
  > Do I have this right: your State says your medicine is legal to buy, the Federal government says it's not illegal No, the second half is wrong; the Feds say it is absolutely illegal, but also not a prosecution priority. Well, except the “not a prosecution priority” part just got a little less clear.
- chris11 9y ago
  > Federal government says it's not illegal Pot is still illegal at the federal level. Though the Obama-era DOJ deprioritized enforcement. Jeff Sessions just rescinded this policy. So I'd expect to see some new cases dealing with pot end up in federal court.
  - bluetwo 9y ago
    Yep. I expect this will happen quickly. Some people are going to wake up at the end of a gun and find out they are the lowest hanging fruit.
  - dragonwriter 9y ago
    > Though the Obama-era DOJ deprioritized enforcement. And Congress has, for several years, prohibited federal funds from being used to interfere with state medical marijuana implementation.
    - int_19h 9y ago
      This is still the case as of today - this protection has been extended to January, 18 when this last came up for vote. It'll likely get extended again. So if they start targeting places, it'll be recreational pot stores and farms that sell to them, not medical dispensaries.
- cosmie 9y ago
  As far as I understand, your state says it’s legal but the federal government says it’s illegal. However, there’s a standing directive from the Justice department that they won’t prosecute individuals complying with state laws (when those state laws legalize marijuana). So it’s still illegal at a federal level, but the department that would ostensibly enforce that simply let it be known that they would defer to state law and not prosecute when state law legalized it. But since it was never actually legalized at the federal level, it’s little more than a gentleman’s agreement (which could be pointed to as a valid defense if someone was prosecuted federally). But since the directive came from the executive branch, it can also revoke/revise that directive as it wants, and begin enforcing those federal laws regardless of state level legalization. Congress still has the power to pass actual laws that decriminalize it federally, but they’ve conveniently been spared from that politically charged topic by the Justice Department directive. Now they’ll be forced to address it. And with hundreds of millions of dollars in state tax revenue at stake, there will likely be more pressure to not white wash over it than their has been previously.

rtkwe 9y ago

Must have found a processor willing to take the risk. Or they lied about the business they're in to their processor. There's a company called eMerchantBroker who seems willing to provide licensed dispensaries with standard card processing services. https://www.cardpaymentoptions.com/credit-card-processing/marijuana-merchant-services-providers/ https://www.cardpaymentoptions.com/credit-card-processing/ma...

venachescu 9y ago

I believe some work with smaller local credit unions who only have in-state business. Not sure if these credit unions are in the clear or just minimally exposed to federal prosecution though?

dragonwriter 9y ago
Rohrabacher-Farr, as long as it is in effect, is pretty much a complete bar to federal prosecution for in-state actions associated with state-approved medical marijuana activities (both on its face and, because DoJ tried to narrow it in practice and got challenged, this is also fairly well tested in the courts.) Of course, that's tied to federal spending bills and needs renewed with each new spending authorization, so without timely and full-year budgets it's kind of perpetually at risk of near-term expiration.

monocasa 9y ago

In CO they look like ATMs to the bank rather than a point of sale terminal.

stephenitis 9y ago

I think Eaze uses http://eazepayment.com/ http://eazepayment.com/ A Cyprus based company that uses offshore methods. Anyone else have insight on this?

k_sh 9y ago

I know of a couple dispensaries/delivery services in LA that use payment apps (Square, PayPal, etc) and leave the line item descriptions blank. Bold, but it seems to work for them.