If you're in the habit of using your American Express card to purchase marijuana from your local dispensary, you might want to break out that Visa or remember to bring some cash in your pocket. That's because, according to an email that began circling among dispensaries and medical marijuana activists yesterday, American Express is no longer going to permit cannabis clubs to process marijuana transactions using the card.
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This news first surfaced on the website LASnark, but was rapidly picked up by medical marijuana discussion boards. The LASnark post, in turn, credits the information to the following Twitter account: @rockisagirlsbff.
Here's the rest of the alert:
Please be advised that American Express will no longer allow transactions to be processed at Medical Marijuana dispensaries.
This is a policy change made by American Express, nationwide.
Although we have absolutely no control over this matter, we apologize for the inconvenience.
We are all still able to process transactions with Master Card, Discover Card and Visa.
Thank you in advance for your understanding.
Be Well,
The Farmacy Staff
Award-winning investigative journalist Nick Schou is Editor of OC Weekly. He is the author of Kill the Messenger: How the CIA’s Crack Cocaine Controversy Destroyed Journalist Gary Webb (Nation Books 2006), which provided the basis for the 2014 Focus Features release starring Jeremy Renner and the L.A. Times-bestseller Orange Sunshine: The Brotherhood of Eternal Love’s Quest to bring Peace, Love and Acid to the World, (Thomas Dunne 2009). He is also the author of The Weed Runners (2013) and Spooked: How the CIA Manipulates the Media and Hoodwinks Hollywood (2016).