Why is Amazon suddenly banning weed grinders for legalization?
The Haymaker is Editor-in-Chief Bruce Barcott’s opinion column on cannabis politics and culture.
A little over a year ago, Amazon announced that it would no longer test its employees for cannabis and would lobby Congress to end the federal ban on marijuana.
The announcement was welcome news for many of us in the cannabis world. We see too many companies continue to threaten their employees with nonsensical drug testing policies.
Amazon is fully committed to the legalization of cannabis. But they will not allow you to buy a grinder.
“We hope that other employers will join us and that policymakers will act quickly to make this happen [the MORE Act]’ said Dave Clark, Amazon’s consumer chief, referring to Congress’ bill to end the ban.
Imagine my surprise when I learned that Amazon’s enlightened cannabis policies don’t apply to its own product lines. In fact, news out of Seattle suggests the online giant is reviving the war on drugs when it comes to product bans.
In a Seattle Times story published earlier this week, reporter Lauren Rosenblatt discovered that Amazon has been quietly removing spice grinders from its online listings since at least 2021.
Yes. spice mills.
Ban all kinds of grinders
One company, Golden Gate Grinders, has been selling grinders on Amazon for nine years. Then Amazon suddenly flagged her for violating the company’s policy prohibiting the sale of “drug paraphernalia.”
“In all those years there hasn’t been any indication that it’s a banned product,” the founder of the grinder company told the Times. “One day they supported me and one day it was over.”
Spice grinders can, of course, be used to grind cannabis flower nuggets into conveniently smokable bits.
But do you know what can also be used to help consumers enjoy cannabis? Just about a thousand other items. Here, let me start a list.
apples
Yes, the innocent apple. Any stoner worthy of the title knows how to carve one of these cheeky tree-picked candies into a makeshift pipe. In fact, we have a guide to the process here at Leafly. Don’t sit and play shy with us, Amazon. We know why you’re selling all those honey crisps.
pipe cleaners
I see you list these in the crafting section. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. I have news for you, Amazon. They are called pipe cleaners. They are used for pipe cleaning.
scissors
Without scissors, cannabis flower cutters cannot practice their craft. No trimmers, no trimming. Problem solved.
Bic Classic Lighters Pack of 10
A 10 pack? Are you serious now, Amazon? When a cop catches you with that much weight, that cop is thinking about distribution, not personal use.
Ziploc storage bags 4 pack
Why not just sell these on Amazon under the heading “Dime Bag Supplies”. You don’t fool anyone.
Distilled water, 1 gallon jug
“Hookah” is just a polite way of saying bong. And no water pipe works without water. Stop selling bong water, Amazon.
I could go on.
It’s a joke and it’s not a joke either
Amazon’s policy is clearly nonsense. Someone from Public Affairs needs to contact the Terms of Use Enforcement team and tell them to stop embarrassing the company.
At the same time, the grinder ban is a reminder that we’re not far from the days when Americans actually went to jail for selling paraphernalia.
That’s no exaggeration. Ten years ago you could walk into a head shop in Seattle (not a cannabis store but a glass store) and see signs on the wall that said, “Our products are WATERPIPES for use with TOBACCO. If you call them anything else, they’ll ask you to leave.” I’m not kidding – and neither is the head shop owner. He would kick you out the door if you said the word bong.
Why? Because bongs were illegal drug paraphernalia. Notoriously, Tommy Chong served nine months in federal prison in the early 2000s for selling bongs over the internet. The comedian and cannabis culture icon was arrested as part of the George W. Bush administration’s Operation Pipe Dreams, a ridiculous attempt to crack down on hookah sales.
55 people were arrested for it
Yes, the federal government allocated significant funds to jail glassmakers and sellers. In 2003, the FBI arrested 55 people for peddling broken glass.
“People who sell drug paraphernalia are essentially no different from drug dealers,” John Brown, then acting administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, said at a news conference announcing the shameful arrests. “They are as much a part of drug trafficking as silencers are part of criminal killing. These criminals run a multi-million dollar business selling their paraphernalia in head shops, distributing from huge warehouses and using the World Wide Web as a global paraphernalia marketplace.”
It’s a mistake, Amazon. You can correct it
The world has changed since 2003. The global understanding of cannabis has experienced something of a revolution.
And yet here we are, Amazon. Somehow you’ve got Operation Pipe Dream back up and running on your own pages.
It’s a mistake. Own it, fix it, and move on. We all have bigger and better problems to devote our time to.
And we all need a good grinder. What do you have in the $35 range?
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Bruce Barcott
Leafly senior editor Bruce Barcott oversees news, investigations and feature projects. He is a Guggenheim Fellow and the author of Weed the People: The Future of Legal Marijuana in America.
Check out Bruce Barcott’s articles
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