4 ms·

Are you certain that providing infrastructure to an illegal industry is not illegal in itself? And I guess illegal industries have high barriers of entry as pa

Are you certain that providing infrastructure to an illegal industry is not illegal in itself? And I guess illegal industries have high barriers of entry as participants tend to be a bit paranoid.

chatmasta 13y ago
Obviously I'm not certain because I'm not a lawyer. But it's hard for me to imagine the Feds arresting the principals of a company that provides inventory tracking to state-legal marijuana dispensaries with the express purpose of helping them to conform to the new laws. Infrastructure startups that help follow regulations are in the best interest of the federal and state governments because it gives them both assuredness that dispensaries and the like will be responsive to new law changes.
- LanceH 13y ago
  Your client gets their money frozen. They've been paying you regularly so you get your money frozen. You spend 5 years in court maybe getting some money back.
  - gte910h 13y ago
    That's a risk you get other places too. Not unlike businesses going under. However, whomever is poised to move the second the industry goes 50 state legal is going to make a huge pile of money
    - LanceH 13y ago
      Yea, but it's a perfectly good "why wouldn't you".
- Symmetry 13y ago
  Why would helping marijuana dispensaries follow state regulations be in the interest of the federal government? They want those dispensaries shut down, and if the state government shuts them down all the better.
  - chatmasta 13y ago
    > They want those dispensaries shut down Do they? There's nothing stopping them from doing this right now, which they prove to us by occasionally shutting down some dispensaries. This is just a scare tactic to remind us that they have the power to shutdown dispensaries. Logically (I believe those in real power in government are logical), the government should treat state marijuana dispensaries as controlled experiments. Therefore, their continuing operation lies in the federal government's best interest. What the government does want is for the state marijuana dispensaries to follow state regulations. The federal government knows they can influence regulations on marijuana dispensaries far more than they can influence the existence of them. Effectively, the government is saying to the state legislatures "you can have marijuana dispensaries, but they better be tightly regulated." So it's in the best interest of both state and federal governments that the dispensaries follow the regulations set forth by the state governments. A company helping dispensaries follow those regulations will therefore also be in the best interest of everyone. If your company has dispensary clients in multiple states with separate regulations, and you maintain software for each state's regulations, then you will be in an excellent position when the federal government makes its first official pro-marijuana statement.
    - dragonwriter 13y ago
      > There's nothing stopping them from doing this right now Well, except finite federal resources and having other law enforcement priorities besides marijuana dispensaries that are legal under state law.
noname123 13y ago
There are US based companies that sell turn-key solutions to start your online casino or sports bookie websites. It used to be okay and I think the Feds got a little bit touchy on the subject. http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/01/coder-charged-for-gambling-software/all/ http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/01/coder-charged-for-g...

Are you certain that providing infrastructure to an illegal industry is not illegal in itself? And I guess illegal industries have high barriers of entry as participants tend to be a bit paranoid.

chatmasta 13y ago

Obviously I'm not certain because I'm not a lawyer. But it's hard for me to imagine the Feds arresting the principals of a company that provides inventory tracking to state-legal marijuana dispensaries with the express purpose of helping them to conform to the new laws. Infrastructure startups that help follow regulations are in the best interest of the federal and state governments because it gives them both assuredness that dispensaries and the like will be responsive to new law changes.

LanceH 13y ago
Your client gets their money frozen. They've been paying you regularly so you get your money frozen. You spend 5 years in court maybe getting some money back.
- gte910h 13y ago
  That's a risk you get other places too. Not unlike businesses going under. However, whomever is poised to move the second the industry goes 50 state legal is going to make a huge pile of money
  - LanceH 13y ago
    Yea, but it's a perfectly good "why wouldn't you".
Symmetry 13y ago
Why would helping marijuana dispensaries follow state regulations be in the interest of the federal government? They want those dispensaries shut down, and if the state government shuts them down all the better.
- chatmasta 13y ago
  > They want those dispensaries shut down Do they? There's nothing stopping them from doing this right now, which they prove to us by occasionally shutting down some dispensaries. This is just a scare tactic to remind us that they have the power to shutdown dispensaries. Logically (I believe those in real power in government are logical), the government should treat state marijuana dispensaries as controlled experiments. Therefore, their continuing operation lies in the federal government's best interest. What the government does want is for the state marijuana dispensaries to follow state regulations. The federal government knows they can influence regulations on marijuana dispensaries far more than they can influence the existence of them. Effectively, the government is saying to the state legislatures "you can have marijuana dispensaries, but they better be tightly regulated." So it's in the best interest of both state and federal governments that the dispensaries follow the regulations set forth by the state governments. A company helping dispensaries follow those regulations will therefore also be in the best interest of everyone. If your company has dispensary clients in multiple states with separate regulations, and you maintain software for each state's regulations, then you will be in an excellent position when the federal government makes its first official pro-marijuana statement.
  - dragonwriter 13y ago
    > There's nothing stopping them from doing this right now Well, except finite federal resources and having other law enforcement priorities besides marijuana dispensaries that are legal under state law.

noname123 13y ago

There are US based companies that sell turn-key solutions to start your online casino or sports bookie websites. It used to be okay and I think the Feds got a little bit touchy on the subject. http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/01/coder-charged-for-gambling-software/all/ http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/01/coder-charged-for-g...