Many businesses were thrilled when President Trump signed the Farm Act of 2018 into law in December last year. Those businesses thought that the discrimination that they had been facing would come to an end now that hemp and its derivatives had been made federally legal. Sadly however, the discrimination seems to go on unabated as the discussion below shows.
Point of Sale (POS) System Providers Close Hemp Business Accounts
For Sabina King, the CEO of an Oregon-based CBD company called Hempure CBD, merchant processors frequently stop providing services to her company without any prior warning. The most painful was what happened in May this year when her business was experiencing a boom in sales. Their merchant processor suddenly pulled the plug on them.
King’s experience isn’t unique to her company as hemp companies across the country report similar discriminatory practices by merchant processors.
News Wire Services Are Coerced to Drop Hemp Clients
For Colorado-based hemp entrepreneur Morris Beegle, the news wire service he was using informed him that they would no longer carry content from his company because their credit card provider had asked them to stop distributing any content on hemp, CBD, marijuana and other such products.
Such businesses say they frequently end up having to try to distribute news by themselves, and yet this is a matter that would be better handled cost-effectively by hiring news wire service providers.
Social Media is Still Lukewarm to Hemp
Morris Beegle also says that a hemp group (WAFBA) he co-founded has also had its adverts blocked by social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook. Even the recent announcement by Facebook that some hemp adverts would be allowed on the platform hasn’t yielded the expected easing of restrictions since Beegle isn’t aware of any hemp company whose adverts have been allowed to run on Facebook.
Beegle thinks that the pharmaceutical industry could be behind the discrimination that the hemp industry is experiencing since sales of opioids and other prescription medications have registered a decline in the states where medical marijuana and CBD products have seen an uptick among patients.
Beegle, King and others in the hemp space can only hope that when the FDA and USDA release their hemp regulations, financial institutions, social media platforms and other industries whose products and services are crucial to the hemp industry will adjust their stance and become more welcoming to the hemp industry.
Industry analysts think that while it may be a stretch to blame “Big Pharma,” hemp industry players like SinglePoint Inc. (OTCQB: SING) and Organigram Holdings Inc. (TSX.V: OGI) (NASDAQ: OGI) will be hoping that the stigma directed at hemp will gradually subside.
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