Medical Marijuana: A Real Hot Potato
Imagine walking into your office and discovering that
your credit card services were terminated overnight. They were not cut off
because they had not paid their bills and were not involved in illegal
businesses, but for some inexplicable "unacceptable business
practice". Many dispensaries that
sell medical marijuana are faced with this reality.
The service is not provided
This story is not uncommon. Alternative Medical
Choice, Inc., an Oregon-based consultation service, was recently victim to this
same fate. What did AMC do to get in
trouble with Intuit, their service provider? AMC is a company that offers consultations to doctors in
order to approve medical cannabis use as per Oregon law. Although the clinic doesn't dispense or distribute cannabis
medically, it has been closed.
Intuit claims that they ended services due to AMC's
indiscretion about their involvement with medical cannabis. Further questions were
asked about the termination of 3000 accounts with clinics that offer similar
services. Intuit stated that they wouldn't be closing those accounts as they
don't have medical marijuana on their websites. AMC offered to remove this reference but Intuit said that
they would not reestablish it because "now, we know".
PayPal, an online payment service has also closed
accounts that were associated with medical marijuana consultation reference
references.
DEA, FDA and IOM.
One of the problems businesses face is the question of
marijuana's medicinal value. The DEA and US government believe that marijuana does not
have any medical value. If there are any
benefits to smoking, the American Cancer Society, AMA, and AAP agree that it is
not the best way to get them. Alternative
methods of ingestion are being explored.
Even the Institute of Medicine study, which is often
cited by advocates of medicinal marijuana, actually disapproves of the use of
smoked cannabis for medical purposes. Although there are some therapeutic benefits from
cannabinoid drugs (primarily THC), the study also found that there was no
better alternative. IOM rejected the idea
of additional studies due to lack of standardization in dosage, method of
administration and other factors.
What are our next steps?
Like many other hot potatoes it is not something that everyone
wants to do. Dispensaries
can be difficult to finance, account and provide services. Alternatives are available for those who want to stay in
business.
Although selling cannabis online is illegal, it's
possible to find companies that are willing to sell the product. Entrepreneurs can search
for merchant account providers who are familiar with legal medical marijuana
sales. This will help them find the right services without any ambiguity.
It is probable that the issue will be resolved soon, as
15 states and the District of Columbia have already made it illegal to sell
marijuana products for medicinal use. California and other states are considering charging
dispensaries sales taxes on all transactions. It is impossible to imagine
leaving such a lucrative cash cow when the state budgets are empty. It remains to be seen how the federal government will
respond.
It's about perception or money?
It's easy to see the government moving in either of these
directions.
In most countries, cannabis possession is still illegal. It is unlikely that the US
government would want to change global opinion. However, taxes resulting from legalizing an industry that is
already thriving could be as high as $2-6 billion.
There is currently no convincing argument for merchants. It will be difficult to
obtain business services and abrupt terminations are likely until all federal,
state, and local government agencies are on the same page.
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