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ADCANN booted from its payment platform

Published on January 20, 2021 by oz. staff

It’s not easy being a cannabis-focused company.

Things that come simple to other businesses, can be a nuisance for those who work in weed.

And not only for retailers or producers.

Even those on the service side, such as news media, face the prospect of having their social media banned or essential services nixed.

The latest victim is cannabis marketing resource ADCANN.

They tweeted Wednesday that their online payment account with Wave was suspended because they work with cannabis companies.

Today Wave (https://t.co/cxVKwdfDVG) killed our online payment account because we work with cannabis companies. We are a media company operating in a licensed, regulated and legal environment. Things need to change.

— ADCANN (@adcann) January 20, 2021

We feel their pain.

When the oz. set up an online store shortly after legalization to process magazine subscriptions, they chose Shopify because its platform was being widely used for online sales of recreational cannabis in Canada.

Yet Shopify refused to process payments for the publishing company because its content was focused on cannabis.

“No other legal industry faces the kind of discrimination and stigma that cannabis does,” says David Wylie, publisher of the oz.

“When a magazine can’t process subscriptions or a licensed cannabis store has its popular social media account suddenly shut down, it can mean the difference between succeeding and failing in a very competitive industry.”

Several of the oz.’s Instagram posts have been deleted by the social media company for violating their policies. And the media outlet isn’t even allowed to boost news posts on Facebook.

Says ADCANN: “Things need to change.”