Invest in MJ Blog

Medical marijuana is legal in 23 states including New Jersey, but the ubiquitous social media giant Facebook apparently doesn't "like" it. Home pages run by three Garden State dispensaries and at least handful of others across the country have been deleted. 

The surprise move stunned dispensary owners and angered patients, who said Wednesday they rely on the up-to-the-minute information these sites provide about the latest strains that help alleviate debilitating symptoms.

"It seems high-handed to simply shut down important resources for sick patients without even saying why or giving organizations a way to ask for reconsideration," said Peter Rosenfeld, one of the 5,668 registered patients in the state program. "What better use of a social media than having sites where parents of sick children can ask questions about medication and treatments?"

In an email, the Facebook media relations office declined to answer questions, and referred NJ Advance Media to the community standards section on its homepage.

Officials from Breakwater Wellness and Treatment Center in Cranbury and Compassionate Sciences Alternative Treatment Center in Bellmawr said their home pages were shut down Tuesday. When they tried to use their home page, they found an electronic message that said: "We remove any promotion or encouragement of drug use."

"Your page is currently not visible on Facebook. It looks like content on your page does not follow the Facebook Community Terms and Standards."

"The site does not allow ads that promote the sale or use of . . .illegal, prescription, or recreational drugs," according to the advertising policies' page.

Marijuana possession and production violates federal law, although the Obama administration has publicly announced that it would not devote law enforcement resources to investigating lawful use permitted by state statutes.

Breakwater founder Alex Zaleski called Facebook's actions "a great disservice to our patients who rely on us to keep them updated on what is going on. We are looking into the matter and hope to resolve it in the patients' favor as soon as possible."

Although each of the five dispensaries in the state have their own web page, the Facebook presence is important because the state rules prohibit advertising, Compassionate Sciences General Manager Michael Nelson said.

Facebook is "incredibly important because the state limits what we can do on our website," Nelson said. "It allows us to post strain names which allows people to do research. It allows the communication between the patients about what is working."

The Facebook presence for Garden State Dispensary in Woodbridge is also missing, but a dispensary representative could not immediately be reached. But the pages for Greenleaf Compassion Center in Montclair and Compassionate Care Foundation in Egg Harbor Township remained active as of 3 p.m.

News about Facebook's actions made for passionate fodder on the Facebook home page of the Friends of the Medical Marijuana Coalition of New Jersey Wednesday.

"It makes me question whether any of us should continue to use FaceBook. Maybe it is time for people to migrate to new ways of communicating," Rosenfeld said.

It's unclear how many legal medical marijuana and recreational marijuana operations have been affected. Dispensaries in Maine and Washington have taken to Facebook's community forum in the last three months to complain about the unilateral decision to disconnect their social media presence.

"I am a dentist and I also own a legal marijuana business in Washington State. I run tasteful ads. Right now, my page has been deleted by facebook, but my competitor...is advertising tons of marijuana on facebook, with no problems from you. Why are you focusing on me, but no one else?"

"I expect an answer soon or at least let me know the next step or should I just start legal action? I feel you are not dealing with this in a fair manner."

The original article written by Susan K. Livio at NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, can be found at :
http://www.nj.com/healthfit/index.ssf/2016/02/facebook_cancels_pages_for_medical_marijuana_dispe.html

Economy of Scale - The cost advantage that arises with increased output of a product. Economies of scale arise because of the inverse relationship between the quantity produced and per-unit fixed costs; i.e. the greater the quantity of a good produced, the lower the per-unit fixed cost because these costs are shared over a larger number of goods. Economies of scale may also reduce variable costs per unit because of operational efficiencies and synergies. Economies of scale can be classified into two main types: Internal – arising from within the company; and External – arising from extraneous factors such as industry size. – “Investopedia”

I am constantly asked “how can I expand my cannabis business across state borders?”  I am then forced to explain how the U.S. system of federalism works.  Even though medical and/or recreational use of cannabis may be legal in your state, it is not legal on a federal level.  Why?  This boils down to the same issue concerning banking for the cannabis industry – the Schedule I Classification of cannabis makes its possession, use, cultivation and/or sale a federally illegal activity.  Then logically following, from a federal perspective, the proceeds of activities involving Schedule I “drugs” are the proceeds of illegal activities. 

Constitutional law then forces us to examine two important issues – (i) Preemption and (ii) Interstate Commerce.  The “Supremacy Clause” states that state laws which conflict or contradict federal law, are null and void.  Federal law is therefore the “law of the land”.  So in essence, all state legalization of cannabis, in any category, will not be “legally” recognized by the federal government with respect to law enforcement.  These real battles are being fought every day in states that have legalized cannabis use.  For the moment, the federal government seems to content to allow the great cannabis experimentation to continue, while occasionally issuing “safe-harbor” guidance that is quickly disregarded.

These days it’s harder than ever to break through, especially in an industry whose bandwagon is quickly filling up like the SF cable car. There is so much noise, everyone is screaming and trying to get their message across, staking their claim in the green rush. It’s great in the sense that without gatekeepers more people are able to express their ideas, but the downside is that it’s harder than ever to actually be heard. I, personally, like when the best ideas win.

So, how do you find your breakthrough idea? Many people know generally where they want to go, but it takes more than that. There are five major ways to get to your “idea destination”. You don’t even have to do all five. Pick one and execute it well. That’s enough to make your name in the cannabis industry. 

Start with a niche strategy then expand strategically outward

You can’t just say I’m going to be the expert in something. In that category, you will compete with the entire world. You have to narrow it down. The secret to that however, is that you don’t want to be pigeonholed doing that. You need to move into new territory from there. It’s all about circling the area around a niche. A good niche is one that you can become the master of, because the big players in the industry only talk about it periodically. Where do you get the seed for finding a niche? Well, solving your own problem is one way. If you are in a situation, others are too. Also, draw from your personal experiences. Notice needs and find a solution.