Buying weed from Apple – How the App Store changes may open up payment systems for the marijuana industry

Tech giant Apple has quietly but effectively shown its support for cannabis legalization in recent months. Last summer, the company updated its app store policies to allow uploading and downloading of marijuana delivery apps. Anyone with an Apple device can log into their app store to purchase delivery service apps from various licensed cannabis companies in their states.

This move was made cautiously, and few people other than Cannabis.net noticed the move. The company’s revised policies show that it now takes a pro-cannabis stance. Amazon also showed a similar show of confidence in the cannabis industry last year when it revoked its marijuana screening tests for new and old workers.

Join the cannabis legalization train

The recent introduction of cannabis laws in different regions of the country, along with scientific evidence demonstrating the therapeutic potential of cannabis medicines and hemp-derived products, has prompted giant tech companies like Apple and Amazon to change their stance on cannabis policy. As we covered in the article What Are Apple and Amazon Intending to Do With Cannabis? Does this create new ways to process payments for cannabis purchases in the US?

Apple is one of the largest companies in the tech ecosystem in the United States. The company, ahem, two decades ago, followed legal guidelines that prohibited affiliations with the cannabis sector. However, his move to jump on the cannabis legalization trend has been hushed up. The company’s board of directors changed a number of policies to support the rapidly developing cannabis industry in the country and to provide more information about the plant itself.

Forbes announced that this change was implemented in June. The tech giant changed App Store policies to give cannabis companies free access. Many companies have benefited from this move since last year. The small details and fine print in the new guidelines were carefully studied by many cannabis companies in order to make the right decisions at the time.

The App Store Policies state that iOS applications for managing online sales and delivery services for medical and adult cannabis can now be hosted. Apple users based in legal states will finally have access to download cannabis delivery apps from the iOS app store.

No policy changes were announced after this move, although it was an extremely important change. The company decided to give customers the opportunity to educate themselves about the policy changes in their own time.

The ideal time for reforms

The changes in cannabis policy in major cooperatives, coupled with the massive support the plant is receiving from mainstream celebrities, couldn’t have come at a better time. The huge changes will prompt the government to make more progressive changes to the existing laws.

Many experts believe these moves will encourage federal lawmakers to consider the benefits of decriminalizing cannabis. Citizens have campaigned with the federal government to decriminalize cannabis for many decades, but past and current presidents have done little to enact changes. Biden even rolled in with promises from the cannabis campaign to come to office, only for him to maintain his earlier anti-cannabis reform stance — as seen in his reluctance to make fundamental changes to the federal cannabis sector.

A recent poll shows that 68% of American voters support legalizing cannabis for any reason, be it medicinal or recreational. States with cannabis laws have begun to take advantage of corporate interest in the cannabis industry. Apple’s new guidelines can be used by many businesses in the cannabis sector, from producers to retailers to delivery service professionals. Even financial technology experts can benefit from the new App Store policy.

Adair Lion, co-founder and CMO of Artis Intel and a highly respected fintech expert, said his company takes full advantage of the latest developments in Apple’s App Store. His company keeps tabs on industries with updated cannabis policies and those that need to change their ideologies to keep up with the current trend. Lion explained that the new guidelines for Apple’s App Store would give his company the opportunity to bridge the gap between cannabis retail and mobile transactions.

Some giant corporations have not joined the bandwagon.

Facebook and Google will take a stand in the ongoing cannabis legalization process. These two corporate giants are more interested in increasing revenue for their companies. They have never shown any interest in matters related to cannabis legalization, nor have they helped spread newfound information about the benefits of cannabis plants.

Both companies continue to operate within their existing workplace cannabis policies. They have not changed their workplace policies to encourage or educate their employees about cannabis use. It’s still uncertain whether both global corporations will join in advocating federal cannabis policy reforms in the near future.

The urge for federal reforms

A federally legal commercial cannabis industry in America would be monumental. Support for cannabis legalization is at an all-time high. Voters, policymakers and average Americans are showing a shifting attitude towards cannabis in a positive way.

As lawmakers continue to do their part to intervene in federal reforms, companies like the NFL, Uber, institutional corporations, and mainstream celebrities also have a role to play in pushing the agenda forward.

Last month, the SAFE Banking Act was passed for the sixth time to allow cannabis companies access to financial institutions. In April, another cannabis reform called the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act will be introduced by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

bottom line

The recent turning of the tide for cannabis reform is similar to what is happening in the crypto ecosystem. Elon Musk and Tesla’s interest in digital assets will influence and accelerate widespread adoption, just as they support cannabis reforms by Fortune 100 companies, and lawmakers will spur the widespread adoption of modified cannabis policies.

Apple’s change in App Store policies will gradually expand payment solutions for the legal cannabis industry. In a few years, decisions like these will be looked back at and seen as important unifying factors that helped unite fragmented operations in the industry. This could be the reason why Google and Facebook are reluctant to promote cannabis products as their payment systems on Play and FB store could be used to buy marijuana, time will tell.

Note that the policy updates strictly adhere to geo-fencing within legal jurisdictions. Most importantly, only licensed legal entities are allowed to have their apps in the store. Failure to comply with these new rules will not be tolerated.

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