[rhizome]

This has more front-loaded backstory than a recipe post at Pioneer Woman Cooks, but it sounds like a harbinger for Puritan effects on commerce. Who could be next on the list of these card companies? The cannabis world already has their own troubles, so maybe the ratchet will next tighten on them. That a criteria for canceling an account can be "Illegal or immoral," like those are synonyms, is telling.

[mschuster91]

> The cannabis world already has their own troubles, so maybe the ratchet will next tighten on them

IIRC cannabis merchants can't even open bank accounts, much less accept credit cards. The only way that they can be annoyed further is by restricting the amount of cash they can hold in the store - which actually would make sense, given that a pot stop filled to the brim with cash is a prime target for gangsters.

[jerrycruncher]

In Washington state, at least, a handful of regional credit unions allow deposits from cannabis businesses, and it looks like Colorado may have recently-ish started allowing the same. This, specifically, is for business accounts. The transactions with customers themselves are all in cash.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=washington+cannabis+credit+union

[X86BSD]

You're correct. AFAIK all those pot shops in Colorado for instance are cash based only. And have vaults built to store all their cash because the banks won't touch it. There was an episode on Vice TV that touched on this I believe.

[goatforce5]

There was an amusing tidbit in CNN's High Profits (I think it was) where the Colorado tax department was having to put on extra security because the pot shops were having to pay their taxes by physically handing over bags of cash.

[X86BSD]

Yeah! It's absolutely crazy!!

When legalization gets to my state I hope I have the foresight to have the planning and financing in place to be the first dispensary to open here. These things are just redonculous cash cows.

[hackermailman]

There is a lot of escorting on Fetlife, a quick check of the site will reveal plenty of prostitution which is why I didn't apply there for a job when they were once advertising for Rails devOps people with a gigantic salary(for Canada) and I went through the site to check it out. Too risky to end up like Redbook people who got arrested.

[fweespeech]

Yeah.

FetLife acts more like a porn/escort site than a social network in many respects. Its unfortunate since a sex positive kink community would be a great boon but they all seem to get seedy when they allow RL nudity/discussions.

I wonder if a no RL rule outside of things like clubs, etc. that are larger organized group activities with physical presences and business licenses would have been the "real" solution.