About Secret History

Commentary on Latin America.
Mostly about Mexico - but not always.
Designed to encourage readers to learn about
the apparently "secret history" of 500 million people
spread across two continents
- but not always.
You can always count on a little snark.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Marijuana: $30 gram; Wholesale: $3000 pound; Having a Marijuana Debit Card: Priceless

There are some things you can't buy legally, but for everything else, there is the Medical Marijuana Debit Card.

The Credit Union Times reports that Commerce Online is launching a debit card that can be used at medical marijuana dispensaries in California and Colorado.

"Being an established player within the merchant services sector and aligning ourselves with the strongest banking and technology partners within the space, we believe Commerce Online is uniquely positioned to offer the most reliable pre-paid debit and identification card to the medical marijuana industry, and roll out our pilot program immediately. Presently, most of these operations only accept cash, as well as pay cash to suppliers to the collectives, subjecting operators and collective members to theft, unregulated and potential criminal activity. There is no doubt that with new legislation for the operation of these facilities and potential legalization in select states, there will be tighter safeguards put into place by federal, state and local governments,” said Kyle Gotshalk, CEO of Commerce Online. Read More
With conservative Mormon, PANista, and FORMER assistant secretary of agriculture in Mexico Jeffrey Jones using the narcotics industry as an economic model for Mexican farmers and the US banking industry now using a legitimate debit card (excluding the illegal laundering done by banks), we might be looking at a new industry in the New World.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This actually makes a lot of sense -- though I expect there will be a small market in stolen Marijuana cards.

Given the moralistic bent of the U.S. -- and the fear that some "undeserving" person might receive the benefits of some program, special use debit cards are already issued for things like aid to dependent children, food relief programs, etc. (I was a contractor on the State of Kansas' system years ago). This would reassure state governments that "the wrong people" aren't just getting high (though I have nothing really against that, though it's no my thing).

Now, I wonder if medical marijuana will be covered under the new insurance regime.