Facebook actively deletes pages that promote drug use. According to New Jersey Online, this includes business accounts advertising medical marijuana dispensaries.
Several dispensary pages across the nation have been shut down over the past few weeks, leaving the creator with a simple message. “We remove any promotion or encouragement of drug use.”
This is an inconvenience to many patients who go online for updates on deals, strains or just to ask a budtender questions. It also makes it difficult for store owners to advertise their inventory.
Peter Rosenfeld chooses to treat his symptoms with medical marijuana, and is a registered medical marijuana cardholder. He disagrees with the approach Facebook has taken to abide by their Community Terms and Standards.
“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,” Rosenfeld said. “What better use of a social media than having sites where parents of sick children can ask questions about medication and treatments?”
Breakwater Treatment and Wellness Center and Compassionate Sciences Alternative Treatment Center, two Facebook pages representing dispensaries in New Jersey, were shut down Tuesday. Both dispensaries opened towards the end of 2015, and are fairly new to business.
Facebook has the right to shut these pages down since marijuana is still federally illegal, even for medical use. The Obama Administration has openly announced that the government will not use its resources to discontinue state marijuana industries, but it is still classified as a Schedule I drug.
To learn more about the various pages on Facebook that have been shut down, read the full article.